LABOURFLOWS - Infrastructures of Labour Power Flows

In recent decades, the idea of a stable job with fair pay has become less common for many people in Europe. Even full-time workers often struggle to make ends meet. Jobs have become less secure, wages have stagnated, and inequality has grown. Events like the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent rise in inflation have made these problems worse. The effects reach far beyond the workplace, contributing to falling birth rates, aging populations and labour shortages across Europe. The LabourFlows project aims to better understand this new reality of insecure work. Instead of looking only at the direct relationship between employer and employee, we explore the larger systems that move people into and out of precarious jobs. Just as roads allow goods to move and the internet enables the flow of information, we study the labour infrastructure that supports the flow of workers and their labour power into jobs that are often low-paid and unstable. Labour power refers to a persons capacity to work for an employer. To function, it must be maintained and renewed, for example through food, housing, rest, education and healthcare. These are basic needs that sustain workers and enable future workers (children). This labour infrastructure includes both human and non-human elements, such as job agencies, labour laws, EU regulations, local governments, transport networks and community groups. These systems often remain invisible, but they play a crucial role in shaping todays insecure labour market. The LabourFlows project seeks to uncover the often hidden labour infrastructure. We focus on three major logistics hubs in Poland, Belgium and Austria. These countries have large warehouse sectors but different labour markets and policy environments. Warehouses are ideal places to study labour infrastructure, as the rapidly growing logistics industry relies heavily on insecure, low-paid jobs, often filled by migrants, minorities, people with disabilities or former inmates. Current labour shortages in these warehouses make the cracks in the system more visible, offering a unique opportunity to study how labour infrastructure functions or fails. By examining the labour infrastructure and the people and practices behind it, the LabourFlows project aims to reveal how these often hidden systems shape precarious work for a diverse workforce and the workers livelihood - and how they might be challenged and reimagined to build fairer labour infrastructures in the future.