Liberalisation of public services: Boosting precarious employment in Europe? Jörg Flecker & Christoph Hermann, FORBA Vienna Work, Employment and Society Conference 2010, Brighton

2  Competition, shareholder value  restructuring and cost cutting  Fragmentation of bargaining systems  Non-standard work: ‚atypical‘ and ‚very atypical‘ jobs (Eurofound 2010)  Precarious: insecure work with low income and low levels of social protection (falling below societal standards) (ILO 1997, Dörre 2005, IAB 2010). Public service liberalisation and precarious employment

3  3 year research project ( )  6 countries: AT, BE, GE, PO, SW, UK  4 sectors:  Electricity  Postal services  Local public transport  health services (hospitals) The PIQUE Project

4  Processes of liberalisation and privatisation, ownership and market structures, forms of regulation  Literature and data analysis on impacts on employment, industrial relations and productivity  Company case studies on company reactions and consequences for employment, productivity and quality  Representative survey on users‘ perspective The PIQUE Project

5  Large variety of market structures  Shift towards highly competitive markets only in few sectors and countries  Concentration processes  public monopolies are replaced by private oligopolies  Move to private ownership stronger than towards competitive markets MARKET AND OWNERSHIP STRUCTURES

6 Evolution towards more competitive market structures (2006) AustriaBelgiumGermanyPolandSwedenUK Postal services: letter and direct mail market Limited Rather limited (fully open from 2008 onwards) Very limited ModerateRather limited Electricity LimitedVery limited Limited (abolition of regional monopolies but concentration of main producers) Moderate Moderate (high share of spot-market trading) Strong in generation; moderate in supply Local public transport LimitedVery limitedRather limitedLimited Strong but decreasing because of more market concentration Hospitals Limited ModerateLimitedVery limited

7 Evolution towards private ownership (2006) AustriaBelgiumGermanyPolandSwedenUK Postal services (letter market) Predominantly public ** Predominantly private Predominantly public Substantial increase Substantial increase Strong increase Marginal increase Limited increase Electricity Predominantly public Predominantly private Predominantly public Predominantly private Substantial increase Moderate increase Substantial increase (Eastern Germany) Substantial increase Very strong increase Local public transport Predominantly public Predominantly private Fully private Limited increase Very limited increase Moderate increase Limited increase Strong increase Very strong increase Hospitals Predominantly public* Predominantly private* Public equals private* Predominantly public Limited increase Moderate increase Strong increase Limited increase Very limited increase Limited increase

8  From public to private law companies  Mergers and acquisitions  Private and foreign ownership  Subsidiaries and outsourcing  Internationalisation and diversification  Cost-cutting COMPANY REACTIONS – Major strategies

9  Reorganisation and new technology  Reduction in employment  Intensification of work  Payment of lower wages  Non-standard employment COMPANY REACTIONS – Cost cutting

10 EMPLOYMENT

11 NON-STANDARD EMPLOYMENT ElectricityIncrease in part-time (except P), temporary workers (B) Postal ServicesIncrease in part-time (G, B, UK, A), fixed-term jobs, marginal part-time (Germany), self- employment (G, A), low wage sector (G, A) Local Public TransportIncrease in part-time (G, A, B), fixed-term employment (P, UK) HospitalsIncrease in part-time (A, B, G), decrease in part-time (UK), self-employment (A, UK, G, P)

12 EMPLOYMENT

13  Fragmentation of public sector employment system  Differences between ‘old’ and ‘new’ employees  Differences between incumbents and new competitors  Differences between parent companies, subsidiaries and outsourced services  Emergence of two-tier labour relations systems  Evasion of collective agreements through self-employment INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

14  Cost cutting  employment cuts and non-standard employment  Non-standard employment: part-time, fixed-term, temporary, self- employment  Growing diversity of employment conditions (fragmented bargaining systems)  Country differences: more encompassing labour regulation in Sweden and Belgium  In most sectors/countries only some aspects of ‘precarisation’ apply  Widespread shift to precarious employment in postal services in Germany and Austria Boosting precarious employment?

15 T HE PIQUE C ONSORTIUM 15 Forschungs- und Beratungsstelle Arbeitswelt, Vienna, Austria Instituut voor de Overheid, K.U.Leuven, Belgium Wirtschaft- und Sozial- wissenschaftliches Institut (WSI) der Hans-Boeckler- Stiftung, Duesseldorf, Germany Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University, UK Instytut Socjologii, Universytet Warszawski, Poland Hoger Instituut voor de Arbeid (HIVA), K.U. Leuven), Belgium Institutionen för Arbetsvetenskap, Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden