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The this session, this session, was originally managed to

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make some reflections of the scope of R. C. 10, on participation, organizational democracy and self-management. With regard to the overall topic of this conference at the rise of authoritarianism, and to reflect what

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participatory participatory action and democratic participation can do against authoritarian

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But the rise of authoritarianism

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in different places, and we have a couple of

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presentations that look from different perspectives on these questions. The first presentation is by Isabelle de Costa.

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Well, unfortunately, can it be here for health reasons? And as it's now

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half-past 2 in the night in Europe, she could also not participate remotely, so she

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pre-recorded a presentation, and I will start it now.

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Isabel da Costa: I'm I to be here?

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You to to be. I like, hey?

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Isabel da Costa: So

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Hello! Please slide the presentation.

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I we started now.

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No.

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Hello! My name is Isabelle de Costa. I'm very sorry I cannot be with you in Melbourne. I wish you a very good discussion in the session, and I just want to share with you some reflections on power, authority, and democratic participation

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in employment relations, which is one of the intentions we had when we convinced this session. but it turns out it's not so much about theory. But I did want to still share some of the some of the some of the thoughts that I had wanted to

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propose to the discussion. So I am now going to share my Powerpoint.

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So It's going to be very brief. I'll try to keep it down to 10 min, because I know how complicated is to to listen to it. virtually from the distance. so basically, I, I'm going to talk a little bit about democracy at work. and then insist on notions of power and authority.

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And this is going to basically be a plea to do more research on power and empowerment in industrial and in employment relations 250

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so in employment relations, scholars have and and ourctrine people have studied a lot industrial democracy, organizational democracy, participation at work, citizens, participation, etc. Etc.

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In employment relations. Since the web Or John Commons called Flanders! John Lullab! Richard Hyman, there's been a variety of theories about What? Democracy at work would be. In fact, Sydney Bitty swept.

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coined the term Industrial Democracy in 1,897 in a book with that title that was widely discussed in the International Labour movement.

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I'm not going to develop these theories. They're slightly different. interestingly enough. for the web! It was not just about collective bargaining. It was also about mutual insurance.

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And it was about a living wage. And If we think about it right now we we have problems like platform workers have problems with the welfare system. mutual insurance

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would be something to be developed. On the other hand. The way in which this developed as industrial relations became and established

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field in many countries is that the scholars started focusing on collective bargaining per se when she is in conditions and no longer on the wider picture. So my communication will focus on notions of authority, power, and democratic participation.

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In order to revisit some of these old theoretical approaches. Of course I won't have the time, so this is just sharing some ideas with you. This is an old graph. maybe some of you have already seen that the idea here is that

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 way back in the workers movement. Some sometimes industrial democracy actually meant. Work is control over everything, from the labor process to hopefully putting it into capitalism. and maybe it was also total capital ownership and decisional power.

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that that would be at one extreme, and it the other extreme, is just like information can even be in your unilateral information by the employers. like in European works, councils. There is information in consultation rights. No collective bargaining rights.

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collective bargaining, of course, is participation through representation by trade unions, works Council well works councils when they have collective bargaining rights. And then there's also Board Level participation. So participation is a very large notion. doesn't have to mean direct participation, especially if it's in the large multinational group, or, as some researchers at D to Ui put it, democracy at work.

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And it's the same things in my graph, plus some of the issues that they're dealing with, negotiation, health, and safety, etc. Etc. So

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This is rather well known. when I study transnational global global agreements in multinational companies and European agreements. I try to see how this applied to the transnational level. And again, this deals with information, consultation, participation, representation?

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Yes, but when it comes to decision making do all these procedures and institutions bring enough power to balance the imbalance of power between workers and employers. and also representation brings about

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a necessity to articulate from the local to the global. all the strategies of the different actors at the different levels. So in order to succeed, it needs a coordination of trade union strategies. now, to the main issue here. which is power and authority.

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there have been a different, a variety of notions of authority, much less so to my knowledge of analysis of power.

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in fact, in terms of authority. The notion of subordination in the employment relationship is at the core of some of labor legislation. For sure in France a deal at the European Union level also, and there has been theories of authority in sociology. So

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the authority in the employment relationship, even though. The employee, the employee, is supposed to be subordinated to the employer. During the employment relationship does not necessarily mean there's going to be an authoritarian violation. top! Down with unilateral decisions in control, and in fact, the whole of the organization. A collective organization of the workers has been to mitigate.

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that authoritarian relationship! I just want to mention here. a French sociologist, Sean Daniel, I know who in his notion of regulation, had 3 types of regulation, controlled joint and autonomous and control the the the regulation of control is that of the managers over the workers.

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Joint is a joint decision making in which collective representatives, or maybe the direct shop floor workers can jointly decide on working conditions or the work process.

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And interestingly, for Jean Daniel, I know there was always also an autonomous regulation on the part of the workers that is more informal. but always there, and it is a countervailing power to the power of the employer, and is always there in the worker collectives.

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So So in terms of power. power, for John Dollop is one of the 3 key elements of that of the system of industrial relations.

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But he doesn't analyze it at all. It just says power. The term is determined in the larger society. is taken as a given in the system of industrial relations that then through the strategies of the actors, determines the rules of employment but it doesn't analyze it. And I really think, that we would need a better understanding of what power is in employment relations

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mit Ctl, and how we measure it. how to balance the inequality and imbalances of power. In other words, how to empower those with less power. So 150

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to conclude democratic participation for workers and for citizens have much in common. but that's voice when it exists, and even when it has democratic legitimacy through representatives, legitimacy, representatives of the workers, or other means. Does it always mean I'm up 10 min.

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 always mean power. Of course this entails procedures, actors. But how does empowerment work?

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And this is important in terms of conflicts, in terms of building a movement, be it a labor movement or other types of social movements that then musters power in order to change things. So to conclude, it's a plea for our research on power and and and empowerment and employment relations.

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Thank you very much for your patience listening to me, and I wish you all a very nice discussion. Thank you.

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So. Thank you, Isabel, for this presentation, and we move now to Laura Lewis Arias, who will present something about Mexican civil

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 Society groups are defending human rights against ultracap authoritarianism.

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so Are you present. Laura?

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she she she she doesn't seem to be here. So maybe

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we move on.

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Hmm.

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okay.

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so we have the next presentation. This last just with the error.

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Okay, thank you. So Charlie's Tomasselli. on policy participation in empowerment. Please go ahead.

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okay, so Hi, I'm actually in the environmental and Geographical Sciences department. Now, I have left sociology. last year. but I do self identify as an environmental sociologist. So I'm still within the category here. And my discussion today is on policy, participation and empowerment, utilizing a a single case study of community resistance against authoritarian neoliberal policy.

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 space bar is not working and you have to.

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No, I just press it really hard. Okay.

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let me just move this.

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 okay, so this is a a very detailed and in-depth case study. And I don't obviously have time to go into the the details of it. I have just recently had my paper accepted in the Development South Africa Journal. So you can read about it from August. Please do. I'm very excited.

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But basically, what this paper is about is highlighting the contradictions within South African legislation. And I'm utilizing a single case study to illustrate the conflicts that arise from these opposing contradictions that happen in the South African legislature.

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focusing on 3 legislations in this this research, this is a a focus around the issues of water. So this is an extract of development that's happening in the ocean. But a lot of that other work that I do is looking at a land based extractions. And there's different policies and legislations that focus on community communal, traditional land rights.

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But this one's focusing on issues of water and the ocean. And there's 3 policy documents that I'm looking at here. So the first is the constitution of South Africa, the second is the National Environmental Management act. The third is the Mineral Petroleum Resources Development Act, and these are the 3 acts that come into play when we're talking about extractive industries in South Africa.

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And what I'm really hurting in on is the different required levels of public participation that is legislated in these 3 documents. So all 3 of these are national policies, but they have different requirements of public participation, and this results in conflict and confusion at the practical level. And I'm utilizing the

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the theoretical scaffolding of yogen, haamas, and sherry Onstein. So if you work in participation, you already know these these theorists. But what I'm interested in with with Hubermass is looking at a sort of broad overview of the dialogic communication as a method of emancipation.

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So Hamas says that democracy must transcend representational government and power needs to go to the local actors and the social actors who then play both a central role in shaping, but also implementing social change

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and that the application of technocratic, technocratic normative standards can either lead to oppression or emancipation and policy. Here is the technocratic normative standard and it falls under this this, this technocratic implementation. And thus policy can then be utilized to either emancipate or oppress local communities.

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So this is then operationalized through sherry Ornstein. I'm sure everyone's a very aware of Onstein's letter of participation, but at the bottom of the ladder we have non-participation, and this is where the oppressive Regime will fit in. Then we have the middle layers, which is a sort of Tokenistic and this is where South African policy often sits, as in this middle layer of Tokenistic consultation.

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We we keep talking about giving communities, a voice giving them a platform to speak, letting people be heard, and people are talking, and people are speaking and people are being heard. But nothing's actually been done. No implementation is being followed through. And so this works into a tokenistic space which is oppressive, it is not emancipatory. It uses the the rhetoric of emancipation, but is ultimately oppressive.

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And then, at the highest levels, we have citizen power. So Einstein says, Citizen, participation is a categorical term for citizen power, and at the normative standard of public participation. This is what we're aiming for. This is what the rhetoric is talking about is this level of citizen empowerment and and emancipation?

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but in practice this is very really the case.

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So a brief overview of the 3 policy documents. Here we have the Constitution, the National Environmental Management Act and the Mineral Petroleum Resources Development Act. So these are the the legislation that come into practice when you're talking about extractive industries in South Africa.

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So The Constitution was ratified in 1,996, under the presidency of Nelson Mandela. This is a time in South Africa of immense political, social, economic, and and power change.

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The rhetoric is people centered. It's inclusive. It's a valorisation of redistribution, of grassroots, public participation, empowerment, cultural and spiritual protection. and the required level in the the legislation is one that promotes active and representative participation towards enabling all members or community members to meaningfully influence the decisions that affect their lives.

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So if we're looking at Ernstein's letter, this is the highest level. This is Citizen control.

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Then we have the National Environmental Management Act, and this is ratified not long after the Constitution, in 1,998 during the Rdp era. So the Rdp is the reconstruction and development program. And again, this is the development program in South African history which is very focused on a people centered environmentally focused grassroots, level emancipatory process of a development strategy.

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And similarly to A, and it has different levels of public participation requirement going from informing participants to consulting participants, and then ultimately through empowering participants. So we can see how the the the Constitution and Nima fit very squarely together in terms of their emancipatory rhetoric. under Einstein. It maybe, is not the highest level of participation, but it's certainly in the top. The upper rungs.

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Then we have the mineral Petroleum Resources Development Act. So this is ratified in 2,004. So democracy, 1,994 Mprda. 2,004 short 10 years have created an entire monumental shift in the development strategy of South Africa.

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we now have Taboo and Becky as our President, and he is a neoliberal advocate. He is promoting growth. He is promoting economic Gdp as the the development strategy of South Africa, and the policy changes entirely in the rhetoric of the policy changes from one that is, a people centered redistributive policy into a near liberal, authoritative policy that's really valorizing a foreign capital as this, the the way out of our social ills.

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and if we look at the public participation requirements of the Mpi Da. We can see now that it's really dropped down the ladder into what is at best Tokenistic consultation, and probably much worse, much probably much lower down the ladder interested in effective parties are caught on to identify themselves by notices placed in newspapers and on notice boards on proposed development sites. So we can see how very low the The public participation requirement is here at the legislative level.

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So now it's very important to keep in mind that South Africa is an extractive economy. a lot of our Gdp growth comes out of mining and industrial agriculture. So we've we've really valorized extractive technologies and attractive industries. So the Mprda is a very powerful and a very important legislation in South Africa in terms of of development strategy and the minister of minimum petroleum resources is is very powerful within South African terms.

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So that's the macro level focus. Now, we're going to take it down to the local level at the Micro level stage, and we're going to situate the case studying. So the case study is coming out of the wild coast of South Africa, which is in the Eastern Cape. It's a very rural area. It's very underdeveloped in terms of infrastructure and wage labor opportunities. The communities are are very largely based on subsistence, agriculture, pastoralism, and small scale fisheries.

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But despite this, there several populations have really advocated for endogenous understandings of development and and and small scale sustainable development as opposed to extractivist development and a large sale infrastructure development in the area.

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and this community is really useful in a longitudinal sociology sociology study because they've been resisting extractive development since the 1950 s. Even before, but really from the 1950 S. Is where they become very prominent with the Ma Ponda uprisings of the 19 fifties, 19 eighties and 19 nineties, resistance against industrial agricultural projects projects in the area. In the 2,010 s. They resisted a titanium mine by an Australian mining company, which was very well publicised and very well studied.

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and this is just the latest iteration of their resistance to extracted development, which is the so the shell seismic survey that was conducted off the wild coast. I'm sure you all know about it already.

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So this is the latest iteration. In 2021 shell was conducting a seismic survey, or for the coast and the survey was conducted using an exploration right granted by the Dmr. And exploration rights require public participation. But what level of public participation?

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The local community objected to the survey, saying that they had not been consulted, and therefore the exploration right was not valid and should be withdrawn.

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and the community, along with their network of Ngo civil society and environmental lawyers took shell, and the Minister of the Department of Minerals and Energy to court, asking for an interdict against the survey and an overall withdrawal of the exploration. Right?

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So these 2 images are part of the highly publicized process that was in the South African media. The first image is of the dripping oil over the shell logo, and in the second image this is our minister of of the DM. R. E. Mr. Guedi Montashi, who has been accused of having very, very close ties to shell, and he's got a very

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particular kind of goate that he likes to wear, and so the shell. Logo is being representative of this Groti to illustrate his very close connection with extractive industries and shell in particular.

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So how do these policy conflicts play out in this local level. So this case that it illustrates the conflict that arises from these different conflicting policies. Shell and the Dmr. E. Utilize the Nprda as a basis of the required level of public participation. I. E. Tokenist consultation.

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The community, on the other hand, is using The constitutional South Africa and Nema that says that we need a higher level of inclusive public participation that leads to a level of citizen control. And so the court was utilised to be the mediated to decide which level of public participation and which policy document should have been used in the the granting of the exploration right?

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And ultimately, after 3 court cases the court decided to acknowledge the constitution of South Africa, and to valorize in a concept of inclusive public participation, and thus interdicted the survey, and then also withdrew the exploration. Right? It's important to note that only withdrew this particular exploration right? And not all exploration rights.

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So the community consists consistently reiterated here that had shell followed an inclusive public participation process, shell would have been aware of their cultural, spiritual, and resource dependence on the ocean, and would have had mitigation strategies to alleviate for these. It's also very important to note that the community is not saying that they never they will. They will never allow seismic surveys.

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They are asking to be included in the seismic survey process, so they can advocate for mitigation strategies that are pertinent to their particular case in their particular instance. So they're not saying no, to all extraction. They're saying that we want to be included in the the planning and implementation of extractive policies in South Africa. Also, I have written another paper about the social, social, ecological impacts of seismic surveys on rural communities which is also forthcoming. So keep an eye for that.

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So how much time have I got left?

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4 min? Okay, I'm not going to go into too much detail here, but these are iterations of the 2 different understandings of public participation that was required. The the top one will be what shell has done according to the Nprda, and then the bottom one is what the applicants required in terms of the constitutional rights.

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So we can see here. If you spend a bit of time reading this shell did follow the requirements of the Nprda as public participation is required in that legislation, but the community is requiring a higher level. Public participation as is discussed in the Constitution and Nima. And so this conflict is the arising.

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so sort of conclusive discussion points that are happening here. Shell relied heavily on the argument of imperfect legislation, and they reiterated that they had followed the public participation requirements laid out by national legislation. The Nprda's national legislation.

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The communities argued that they were following national legislation in terms of the Constitution and Nema, that, advocating that they have a right to meaningful and inclusive public participation.

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the court ultimately decided with the with the constitutional argument, and concluded that she had not utilized. Adequate, but an inclusive public participation.

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However, the court does not necessarily say that shell requires the community's permission to conduct surveys, or even that shell needs to actually follow the mitigation requirements of the community. What the court is saying is that they need to be involved in the public participation process in a more inclusive manner. But what the outcome of that is left unknown at this point.

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so that's in practice, even at the constitutional level of public participation. it's the best hope that people can have is that they can be involved in the mitigation strategies, they are not assured, are their overall rights to to advocate for they, or to have what they're advocating, for, taken into consideration and at base, the local communities will be able to to negotiate with mitigation strategies.

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So how do we relate this back to the theory here. So Habermas shows us that policy as a technocratic exercise can be used to oppress through the use of limited public participation, and that a reimagining of public participation in a less technically oriented normative approach can contribute to emancipation.

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However, at an empirical level. This level of emancipation is not clear, and this illustrates that the court requires a high level of public participation at higher level than shell facilitated.

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which would achieve a degree of emancipation. Although this does not measure to the most empowering level as proposed by Havamas and Einstein, and thus remains at a Tokenism, a Tokenistic level. And so the challenge in South Africa is, how do we empower local communities in a meaningful and effective manner when legislation does not actually require it?

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Even at the constitutional level that has the rhetoric of empowerment and growth and a people centered development. In practice this is very really the case, and they are very challenging.

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and thanks very much. I hope to have some meaningful discussion here. Thank you.

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Thank you, Charles, for a presentation, and we now move to Tunisia and to the question how

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 trade unions can tackle the challenge of author, authoritarian regime.

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So the next presenter is.

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well.

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okay, and

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okay. Thank you.

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Hello, everyone. Morad. Many from Sussex University in Tunisia is far from here.

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I apologize for my week. English. You know we are Francophone I and I.

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I have to switch from French to English initially it should be in French, but

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given that the majority of the audience is English speaking, they don't speak so.

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 so I thank.

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so I thank the all the organization of the Isa to

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to permit me to to be here, and a special thanks to the Arab Council of Social sciences for funding my participation through a grants given by the Swedish International Development Agency.

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So The title of my intervention is in English, the Trade Union and institution, and the authoritarian. political regimes in Tunisia so historical approach!

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So you. You see the logo of the Ug, tt, it is abbreviation of The Tunisian General Labour Union, which is considered as the most important Tunisian Trade union.

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The history of the yugit today shows that it is not a mere Union Confederation, but rather a real political actor.

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This political action goes back to the colonial period and continued throughout the post-colonial period.

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The usually did the once races. Resistance against the various authoritarian regime, the colonial one and the post-colonian Egyptians as well.

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So in the first period, that means the colonial period. What was the role of a in in this period that the to resist in the colonial regime, which is which is the potentially authoritative. Yes, the creation of in January, 1,946 took place in the context of the workers struggle against the French colonial regime.

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By its action. It gave its birth on to the front for independence, a front which brings together all trade unions and political parties, all trends combined.

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you know, here

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parties and trade unions work together against resist together against the colonial regime, French colonial regime.

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the significant contribution of trade union activists in the so I will argue, I will. so I will show you the so I, will show you the

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 the are the arguments that's confirmed, my hypotheses. That means that the use it is a political actor. So the first one is that the the contribution of trade units activities in the great revolt of 1,952 against French colonization, which led to the assassination of the great leader.

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The second argument.

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he's the contribution of several trade Unionists, Santiagalist militants, and the political party of the On. In New district. There are a an articulation between belonging to the This party, which is the party that leads to independence and the trade unions leaders. So

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 They fought together the colonial authoritarian, a regime which allowed them to establish a common strategy which led to the and independence of Tunisia in 1,956.

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So I will move to the next axis

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and I will. analyze and the post-colonial Tunisian regime mainly in bourgeois presidency, you know, Bourgeba, it's the most famous leader in Tunisia. we. I will analyze the relationship between bourgeois and and and us it

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at the beginning of independence. The relationship between the Egypt and bourgeois was characterized by individual collaboration.

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This leader. It's the Tunisian leaders of Tunisia. After the Independence, the usidity became an important compoundment of the national front.

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united around the ruling party, which is the new distur party. So it is the to this correlation. I think that it is specific for Tunisia. I don't know but it it should be a comparative studies which shows the degree of an a commitment of trade unions in the building of the national state. I think that it is specific for Tunisia. But we need the comparative studies.

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This national front largely won. The elections of the First National constitute a Constitute Assembly in a 19 56. So the cooperation between Ug. Tt. And the only this new party make the majority and make them one the this election, this first election, which is the election of a national consultant, a constituent assembly

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also the so

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We can see also this, a common strategy between the usidity and the government, and the the the the party in in in power, in the adoption of the cooperative development model.

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which is Socialist vocation, proposed it by the Us.

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Between 1,962 and 1,969. This mother and this model is based on the creation of production and service cooperatives.

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The idea was given by the usuality, and the Government has has approved this strategy, and and it it it. It goes on with this strategy.

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It is so. We move to the the second parent in the presidency of Bergibbon, which which is characterized not but the by the the coalition, and but it is characterized by the conflicts

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following the failure of the cooperative ex experience in 1,960 -nine, the relationship between the Government and the Us. It became an increasingly conflict. Here. These conflicts are caused by the Tunisian governments. Adoption of neoliberal neoliberal policy dictated by the Fme. And the World Bank, which is characterized with we can clarify it by the soft

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author of the authorities. Following these conflicts, there were similar acts of your violence.

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the first one, the and the biggest one, the great uprising of January 26, in 1,978, which is called in Tunisia the Black Thursday.

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It it in our political memory as a Tunisian, which is black Thursday. Resulting from a crisis between the government and the unions. The utility colored for a general strike.

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That was the first, the first one after the independence and and the political discourse showed that it is a threat for the the state, a threat for our economy, and so that it it becomes so threatful. That means conflict. Here

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the reaction of the authorities was extremely violent.

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Hundreds of protesters were killed, and trade Unions leaders, including the generic secretary Habibashur, were arrested

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the first time, which is, which was this? big conflict between them?

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So we move in the next pori, a paradise which is the relationship between Eugene and the authoritarian regime of deposit precedent zin lab it in Venice.

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It rules between 1,987 and the Revolution Tunisian revolution to thousands and arrivals under the regime of Bernadette. The Eugene was seriously weakened

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because of the repressive policy of the regime.

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Indeed, the Trade Union Center was satisfied with a soft opposition. In spite of some strike strikes organized particularly by the Education trade unions.

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the most important important event marking a radical opposition opposition to the regime of Ben Ali was a triggered in January 2,008, and manifested itself in the mining

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basin of Gaza. Gaza is the region in the Ontario, Tunisia, and it is characterized by a characteristics, by yes, the existing of mining Boston, which is strategic for Tunisian economic

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section.

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This event paved the way for the great uprising of 2,011 which espounded the Arab what what is called the Arab Spring.

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So we move to the next period, if you want in So the usidity and the uprising of January 14 in Tunisia, the Arabs, the the it was

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mit Ctl, and at the heart of the rights that broke out as a result of the emulation of Muhammad was easy. On seventeenth December, 2,010. Indeed, it has been a political and or organizational refuge for revolutionary activists.

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you know, in Tunisia, where

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in all regions there are a representative for usidity. So the opposites choose to be under the protection of us.

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which is an historical political actor. So it was in the heart of this dynamic, revolutionary, genomic.

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It has also been at the heart of the coordination between the different actors, loers, opponents, bloggers, Facebook bloggers, etc.

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yucididi. contributed also to the geography. Expansion of the protest movements through its calls for regional strikes

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in January 14,

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which was the day of the general strike for a Tunis capital. The same evening the President Bernardi left the country, so January the fourteenth.

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It was a general strike.

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Which is organized by the Eugenics, and the same day Zinn Abdul-in Ali has left.

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So the legitimate is in the heart of what? What is the Arab Spring? Yes.

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so we move to the next back period. Usually today facing the challenges of the political transition in which is very hard, and we are experiencing very difficulties to to. In this. In this transition a period, so you it contribute to the management of the transitional period. By what but the establishment of what she's called in Tunisia, the National Council for the protection

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of the Revolution. which is informal.

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but it is led by the University another time the initiative as a political actor. Yes, in February 2,011, based on local committees throughout Tunisia.

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also the government troika. What is the troika government? It's a government composed it composed it by 3 political parties. which are another party which Islamist vocation, Congress for the Republic, centre left, and Democratic forum for labour and diabetes, which is the centre left. So the government is composed by 3 parties, which has won the election of 2,011.

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This government was led by another party, since it obtained a relative majority of the seats of the Constituent National Assembly.

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What is the relationship between usidity and another part? It is conflict, you all the relationship between the the party and the and you it was conflicted on December, for example, I I I I will show you why it is conflicted on December fourth 2,012 minishes. Milish is close to another party, and former military attack it in the first time.

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The central headquarters of the Eigenvalue, on the pretext that it had hindered the transitional process by the multiple strikes it has organized.

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So the the threaten was from the Islamist party of another

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to see.

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But following the killing of the political figures who are.

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excuse me 1 min. Yes, who are most opposite to another party. Thousands of activists participates in sitting, which was aimed at sacking the Government, led by another party accused of this assassination. Yes, I will move. briefly, in spite of it's conflict with another partuigidity, has organized several meetings in order to find a solution to the crisis.

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Together with the Tunisian League of Human Rights, the National Order of Lawrence the On prior Resume and the Us. It launched a national dialogue from work with its partners, and in in 20 5, October 2,013, known by the quartet of the national dialogue.

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and the and and and and the this quartet has obtained it, as you know, the Nobel peace prize in 2,015. And so the EU is. is considered as a a fuger, as a symbol of a political actor which which can solve the problems in this transitional period.

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So currently in Tunisia regarding the current situation, the U. S. I. Will finish with it, have an initiative

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to resolve the this period, which is characterized by author, but it is not clear what what what it should be. Thank you very much for your attention.

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Thank you very much for this very interesting and informative presentation. So now we can

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move to the next presentation that goes a little bit back to the topic of Isabel. It's about the impact of

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transfer to the cooperation of traditions and works cancers.

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He's quiet.

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Yes. well, first of all thanks for having us here today, and we would like To shed some light in our presentation on the dynamics of action and institutional interdependencies of transnational labor regulation and multinational companies. And we think that there is some kind of a missing link. And what this missing link is. we are trying to explain in our presentation, and also

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present some empirical results on this kind of question. So the starting point was that we made the observation that transmission labour regulation and multinational companies

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is mostly analyzed from 2 different angles. So we have one research stream that focuses on individual instruments or actors like global framework agreements, transnational trade union networks, European works, councils, worldworks, councils, 250.

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And it is. Those instruments are mostly analyzed in isolation. And It is also analyzed. What kind of social practices are behind those instruments, and what kind of outcomes? they produce!

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On the other hand, there is a second research stream that focuses on the linkages between different instruments, but rather from a micro perspective. So there is the assumption that there is an emergent of global global governance regimes or transnational textures of labor and deployment regulation.

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And for us, we see 2 problems or shortcomings. with this kind of framework. First of all, the first approach focuses on the dynamics of social action, but neglects or underestimates. the institutional relationships between different instruments, and, on the other hand, and the second stream focuses on those institutional relationships. But neglects or simplifies us.

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the importance of social practices

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and dynamics. So what we would like to do is to bring together the dynamics of social action and institutional interdependencies, to explain the development of transnational institution building of labour, regulation and multinational companies.

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And we are mainly interested in 2 questions. Firstly, how do social dynamics develop in terms of institution building? And who are the driving actors, and which resources do they rely on? And, secondly, what kind of interdependencies between different forms of transnational labor regulation exists.

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and with regards to actors, we focus on amplitude representatives. although there might be some initiatives also supported by management, we think that employee representatives are the main driving. actors! Behind. The building of transnational institutions for labour, regulation and multinationals.

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and well, the actors might have different power, resources and capabilities and social skills to use those resources. So we try to integrate that into our concept. Here we focus on different power resources as discussed in the literature. And, as I said also, focus on how the actors are capable to use those resources.

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And we also focus on the institutions. Here we see institutions not only as a result of social action, but also as well the basis for social action, social action.

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 so, based on these consideration, we assume that there are 3 factors that we should take into account when we are talking about transnational institution building, of labor regulation. First of all, we think that we have to take into account the multi-level structure and the articulation between labor representatives at different levels.

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Secondly, the availability and the distribution of power resources. are important to understand those processes. And, thirdly, of course, we have to look at the interdependencies and mutual reinforcements. between different institutions

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with regard to methods. we conducted case studies. And here we will focus on 3 company case studies. But I have to mention that those case studies have been embedded in a broader research project dealing with the implementation of global framework agreements. However, for this paper we will concentrate on 3

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specific cases, and these cases are the companies of chemicals, pencils, and cables. Chemicals is a multinational company, active in the chemical chemical industry. It's headquartered in Belgium and has around 20,000 employees. Worldwide

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pencils, is a German headquartered company, mainly active in the wood industry, and has around 10,000 employees worldwide and cables is a German headquarter automotive supplier with around 100,000 employees. worldwide

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and

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we focus on these 3 cases to

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trace the processes. how those transnational institutions come about. And all those, all 3 cases have a common starting point. Because in all of these companies a global framework agreement exists.

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And we try to take this as a starting point and try to analyse what happens afterwards. So what kind of social dynamics develop in those companies? And how do they are backed up or traced back to that global framework agreement? So we try to identify the causal mechanisms for those 3 cases. And then, in a second step, compare the results in a cross-case comparison.

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So the case studies are mainly based on 23 expert interviews with employee representatives at different levels from global union federations, from trade unions at the headquarters of those companies with trade unions at subsidiary level, but also with members of works, councils, European works, councils, worldworks, councils, and this is also complemented by interviews with management.

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So now we are turning to our results. and let's start with the case of chemicals. chemicals is, in our sample, the case with the most developed forms of transnational Institution building, and Thomas will explain that more in detail in just a couple of minutes. so I will just walk you through the case of chemicals to understand what happened here.

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and it's quite interesting. As I said, the company had signed a global framework agreement a couple of years ago, and then some kind of social dynamic developed. And the starting point for that is not only based on the global framework agreement, but also on a second. transnational agreement concluded in this company.

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and that started with the negotiation process between the already existing European Works Council and Central management over a profit sharing agreement, and during that negotiations the European Works council and the management agreed that this profit sharing agreement should have a worldwide scope. And then they discussed, okay, what is the best solution to

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to do that. And then they came up with the idea to set up world works councils. that could sign this kind of agreement. And so they set up the World Works Council, but

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it was only like existing on paper, actually so just signed the agreement. And That was the situation. But this situation shortly changed.

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with the renegotiation of the Global framework agreement. And

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so the idea of the of the World Works Council was already born. So during that renegotiation process they decided to really formally set up the World's Books Council and included a clause into the global framework agreement.

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And by doing this. There's also another interrelation to the Global framework agreement, because there was also already existing some kind of a monitoring committee which was consisting of employ representatives from different world regions. So they copied that it was like taking, like a blueprint for the New World Works Council, which is now existing in the Company

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and the World Walks council consists of 9 employee representatives from various Welsh regions and

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they meet with management on a yearly basis, and the employee representatives within this works council meets on a monthly basis, and they share a lot of information, and they, for instance, tell each other what is happening with regard to the global framework agreement. Are there any problems in the world regions? Are there any breaches of this agreement? So it serves an important information and what network function

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thoughts. And

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with this supports? the implementation and monitoring of the global framework agreement. However, the role is not confined to this supporting and monitoring function because the World Works Council now has also developed an own negotiation capacity vis-a-vis, the management, and has signed other transnational agreements.

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for instance, for minimum labor standards for the whole company. So it's quite interesting that the World Works Council actually is based on the global framework agreement or

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has been. yeah, the Global Framework Agreement helped to set up their World Works council. But now the World Works Council reinforces the implementation and monitoring of that agreement and also. well held up to set up a new dynamic for more transnational labor regulation.

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So I will now hand over to Thomas Sophie. Thanks a lot. Okay, I. right now

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try to describe the second case we we analyzed in our study. It's the case of pencils and in pencils. Also, the the Gfa was the starting point of transnational labor regulation, and it was signed already in 2 in the year 2,000 by the Bwi, which is the building abroad and woodworkers, International and the German Metal workers Union Ig metal. And they signed this. But these actors

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we are not only important because they signed the agreement, but they also have been the main, the core actors in implementing this Gfa.

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And there was a core procedural rule within the Gfa that enabled them to do so. That was the rule that every location, every production establishment of the company has to be audited

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by a cooperative team composed of Hr. Management. The Bwi and the the Eg. Metal every 2 years. So they have to visit every location every 2 years to make a common cooperative audit, including

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conversations with local trade unions and employees. So this was the main mechanism here to allow the Headquarters Union Ajematal and the Bwi to cooperate with local unions, and also to enable the implementation of local unions and locations where they didn't exist before, and to help them in cases of conflict and to develop common experiences

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and based on this.

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based on this. Bw, I at Igmatai decided to build a Tu a a trade union, an international trade union network kind of T UN, as it is usually called, between themselves and the local unions within the companies

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They did it by by by inviting them to the headquarters, and the I think it was 2,014 or 15 a a. And this was a starting point for this network, and since then they met re on the regular base, and they also, developed the kind of Whatsapp group in which they can inform each other in short notice. So and this so this allowed the

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information exchange and it it it.

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It improved the ability to develop common interests. And so this tu was really supporting the Gfa practice in the sense that information was spread among the networks

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even between these auditing processes. So I've got 2 min. Okay? So then, I really try to hurry up. So it was a kind of mutual supporting between the Gfa and the Chev. In the case of. In the case of cables the situation was different also. Here the Gfa. Was a starting point. But

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it, fate, But Within this Gfa. The the European Works councils had the core role to to monitor the the agreement and the the European works consensus was rather weak. It was more a symbolic than a participation revolves council to use the terms of Plaza and others, and it failed to monitor the Gfa. It also failed to integrate the labor representatives from the Mina.

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locations, from Tunisia, from Morocco and from Egypt.

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which were kind of observers within the European works councils. But the European works consensus was not able to integrate them as as full members, and so both the Igamata, the Igmatal, the German Headquarters Union, and Industry all as the global Union had the idea to build a kind of network among these Mina representatives in order to

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support them.

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And in order to build up their capacities as representatives with regular meetings, qualification measures, and so on. It was a measure of capacity building, and

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to enable them to strengthen the local social dialogue.

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and the open question still is whether this will have a repercussions, this network on the on the Gfa practice, the implementation practice and they try to read, negotiate the Gfa. But it's still open how this will end. So I come to the cross-case comparison, and we can see in terms of actors. There are 2 types of actor constellations. The one at chemicals is there are institutionalized actors within the company. I tried. Really.

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I give my best institutionalised actors, the European Works Council, and especially the work works councils, which are the core actors of transnational labour regulations. In the other 2 cases it is a combination of the Global Union and the Headquarters Union. They are here the driving forces of the process of transnational labor organisations and they use specific resources. The Gfa in all cases.

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and

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the less the case and cables in all cases is an important institutional resource, as it has procedural rules which can be used by the by the actors. However, the actors also have organizational resources in terms of the headquarters unions. These organizational resources are maybe a may in the most important. One of them is the membership base. Of course.

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in terms of the global unions. It is the network resources they have got, the networks, the connections to the local unions. So these next works can be used and based on these actions of actors and based on the resources they have. Interdependencies develop between the different institutions these actors could could implement within these companies. In the case of chemical chemicals between the Gfa. The word works councils, which is also an institutionalized actors

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which strengthens the Gfa. And which also is able to the work. Both counsels to agree on new agreements with widens the cope, the scope of transnational labor regulation. In this case it's a kind of expanding model, so to say, in the case of pencils. it is a kind of posit to positive feedback loops between the Gfa, the trends, the the the trade union network, and the Gf. Which which strengthen the Gfa and vice versa.

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and in the case of cables we do not have such a kind of positive feedback loop yet there is a Gfa and the meaner network. But we do not know how this will develop in the future.

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Okay? So, based on this, we could, we could identify some causal mechanisms like.

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the linkages to causal actors, which were especially important in the case of chemicals, was a social dialogue with management. It's a really important cause of mechanism in the case of pencils. It was the good relationships between the local and transnational labor actors which developed during this course of during these auditing processes. In the case of cables

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it was the problems of the Gfa. Which was an important, causing mechanism identified by the actors in the started as a starting point of network building to come to the last slide. I would like to conclude that we can.

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We can say that labor regulation

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is a form of transnational labour regulation. It's composed both of social dynamics, dynamics, of social actions, and of institutional interdependencies. We have different actor types, constellations, as I try to describe it, build on

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a set of different resources, but not built on structural resources, for instance, to to to

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to within the value, chains to

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to interrupt value, change, or so. This is nothing the the actors use, and also a lot of collisional resources with other actors like social movements. but they are really built on institutional and organization and resources, plus the strategic capabilities of the actors, to to realize, to to, to to put into action these resources, so to say.

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and the

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if it. If this works the interdependencies between different institutions that are built by these actors come into play, and they they they. They support this process these independencies in the terms of positive feedback.

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Another thing we didn't have a really a closer look at which which would be something for the future, is is to to put more the the accent or the like different labor relations within these companies, as an important context, for which means the relationship between the unions and the management here further exploration is needed. So thanks a lot for your attention. This was our contribution. Thanks.

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Yeah, thank you, Thomas and Sophie.

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 I will look if

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Isabel is is still in the

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video conference.

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So we have a lot of time for discussion. Questions and answers. Are there any questions or comments on these presentations?

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Sophie and Peace come here to that. is about to hear you and see you. I have a question for the South African. Case and I would be interested. Are there any? Other cases, for instance, where the court decided in a

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another direction? Is this the only case you are aware of? Or are there any other? decisions which would point into another direction? I'm just curious. I'm not an an expert for South Africa. So I'm just curious and interested.

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And

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yeah, so we're actually going through a process at the moment where there are multiple court cases happening on a daily basis, talking about lack of participation at an extractive level. and often what happens is that there's been this sort of snowball effect and a learning effect where communities are now very aware of what the court van arises.

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and so in the early iterations of these court cases, there was a lot of focus on the environmental destruction of extractive industries.

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and these the courts

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disregarded, despite the fact that they did use a constitutional basis to say that people have a rat, to a healthy environment, to a clean environment, and to an environment that supports their livelihoods.

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often what happened was, the courts did not see that there was enough evidence to justify to say that there's environmental damage.

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And so what people have been doing is they've been learning from each iteration of court case to the fact that the courts highly valued the issue of public participation.

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and so there's, you know, this level of analysis that needs to come into there because both of these are constitutional rights, environmental protection and and public participation. But why is it that the court valorizes public participation, but not environmental rights. And so that's sort of further research that needs to happen.

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and the other problem with this is that the concern from social and and environmental activists is that if we overdo the aspect of public, of a lack of public participation is that going to? Is the court going to stop having such a favorable View of it!

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Is it almost going to just become, you know, like a generic term that gets thrown on, and therefore has no more power. So yeah, the court does decide against it generally not if it's issues of public participation that it might happen.

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It's like a

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I've got 2 questions, one on the Tunisian case and one to Isabella on the Tunisian case. I mean, I I learned a lot from that. This is really great. Thanks a lot. And my question is

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about the different roles the Union is playing there.

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They've got a

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a role in the system of labor relations in the industrial relations system. On the one hand, on the other hand, they've got a very important political road that you mainly focus on. And I'm interested in. How do these roads affect each others? Are they in a way combined? Or is it a completely different thing for the Tunisian trade union to

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to make a political campaign, so to say, or to do something visa V. The employers in the industrial relations system. Or is this. It's the one it's the one, maybe the one role power resource for the others. Or are they completely independent? That's that's in a way, my question. Okay and to is a Bella. If I understood you right at the at the end, you said, we have to focus more closely on this power thing on the power concept, concept of power

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in in as a as a resource, or whatever, and in participation and labor relations. And my question is, if you have an idea how that could be, I mean where the focus should be laid on more concretely.

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more on power is a resource power as a medium of action.

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The way power is used in action or power is a structural phenomena. What is it what you are thinking about? So that's my question. Thank you

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is a bearable. You answer first, and then we're at.

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Isabel da Costa: sure. Thank you, Thomas, for the question.

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Isabel da Costa: actually, I we can continue.

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Isabel da Costa: Okay, are you here? Are you listening now?

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It's mute at all.

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Isabel da Costa: Can you hear me?

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So now it should work.

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Isabel da Costa: It works now. Okay, so thank you, Thomas, for your question. What I meant was a plea I was pleading for more a deeper analysis of the notion concept of power in employment relations

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Isabel da Costa: it probably works also for public policy, etc. If if a though in that case there is more studies. But in in our field, in employment relations.

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Isabel da Costa: There is not so many studies. there's just a common sense use of the term of power, and we I don't know how to study it. I don't know how to measure it. I don't know what kinds of power, and I don't know how to improve power to

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Isabel da Costa: Well, for the week of part which is trade unions and workers, so at to to resolve the embalances of power which we see so in our in in our field. The literature deals, for example, with strikes. But we don't have a a deep understanding of power. I don't have my own theory, not yet.

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thank you, Isabel and Nora, to the question regarding Tunisia.

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yeah.

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thank you for your interaction. Yes. In reality we have 2 challenges at the us.

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The first one is to to to make benefits to the labor class.

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After this revolution, which is social revolution.

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which is slogans, and the second challenge is political, because

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the the historical background of Eugene.

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you know the interaction between the 2 challenges

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seems to be very, very complicated.

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because we have contestations, contestacular conversations. Yes, contestations about the leader of Eugene, which is, which are who are

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call it as corruption, which corruption issues, etc. And in the other side they play, they they play an important role in the political issues so as far as, but regard regarding the the labour class rebelling the the Santiagoist activists, there are many contestations.

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but also in the other side.

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They all of the Union trades and echarist activists

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want to to have this important role in the political field in.

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Thank you.

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Thanks, Robert.

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 Are there any other questions or comments?

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please. can you come here? So if I can see you?

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Okay. The question is for the last presentation. I don't know if maybe this is out of your research scope, but I would like to know if those agreements and networks play any role during the pandemic

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in the protection of labored

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I mean the pandemic. For these processes of information exchange. Obviously the pandemic was a challenge.

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So the main

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the main.

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My tasks to to manage this challenge was to to keep the information process going on, and this was this took pace in place, mainly digitally. Yeah, this wasn't as you. In this sense. The pandemic was a challenge for the unions cooperating within these networks, and also within work works councils, and so on. And they.

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from my point of view, they they really try to manage this in the way that they shift it to digital information.

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although being happy after the pandemic took.

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be able to come back to physical information. Giving another thing is whether

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these these these networks? and the Gf, a regulations help to to manage effects of the pandemics on the local level for the workforce. This is another dimension. I mean, this is what you mainly meant.

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Yeah, okay, so

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this is hard to. So I mean, yeah, they they did things they did things I remember in the case of in the case of pencils I described, they organized the supply of masks.

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certain locations. It was the trade union, the Bwi, for example which organized the

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the distribution of masks within these locations in Indonesia, for example, they didn't have them before. So this was an important thing to. I mean they supported local

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health

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management in this way. this was an important thing. but maybe you, Zoe, maybe you've got other things in mind. I mean the what we know about about dismissals or so at that period they were not They took place, for instance, in the in the case of pencils, but they were not The the reason for them was not the pandemic, but the reason were other strategic orientations of the management.

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and

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there were conflicts about this based on the Gfa. And the role of the German

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Headquarters Union and the Bwi. and they tried to. And within these dismissals also Union members were dismissed, and they tried. They were able to

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to get them back to the. They had a conflict with the headquarters management about that, and

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they were able to back these decisions. But this took place during the pandemic.

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But the reason for this was not the pandemic. So we we do not have cases like this. cost by the pandemic. It's it's, I think, the the the most important function. There was more in the in the, in the in the

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in health and safety. and to to guarantee that the workers good work a

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in a self-health environment. So that I

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maybe you have something to add, I don't know.

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I mean, the interesting thing is that with the global pandemic, all of these worker representatives were confronted with the same challenges or similar challenges, and so they try to. Well, Exchange information on that. How is it handled? In the, for instance, the case of chemicals in the different world regions in the different countries. What kind of health and safety measures? we're taking! But it's not like

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we did not become aware of any well, strategy that all of those representatives have come up with to to challenge those developments.

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And what we have observed is that the way they communicated during that period has considerably changed. So it's what's quite interesting for the case of chemicals that During that period. The world works councils, established those monthly meetings before I think they met every 3 months.

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and then during the pandemic, they felt, okay, we need to get in contact with each other More regularly. So they set up virtual meetings on a monthly basis, and that was really like a push forward for them. To talk to each other on a monthly basis, and to get the management to pay for those meetings because they need

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Like interpretation for those meetings, because not all of the employee representatives are capable to have discussions.

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On a certain level in English. So! And then the management during the pandemic said, Okay, we are willing to pay for that. interpretation. So that was kind of an effect that we became aware of.

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Thank you.

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Any other questions or comments.

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but submit it.

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Isabel da Costa: Hello! Can you hear me?

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Yes, now we can, you know.

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Isabel da Costa: Yes, I I have. It's more a comment, maybe, then a question for Thomas and Sophie. But there is much in common between the research and the publications I did with Udo he felt on transnational company agreements and the results of their studies.

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Isabel da Costa: much, much in common, in fact. and because we also analyze institutions and strategies of the actors, the trade union actors mostly and There is one little difference in that. We studied all of the companies that had made those agreements at the time we did them.

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Isabel da Costa: And in the case of Sophia and Thomas it seems that all the companies are are German based. The headquarters are German based, and one of our findings had been that The company, the headquarters of the company were somehow had an a somewhat of an importance.

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Isabel da Costa: most of, for those who don't know most of the companies that sign this. Agreements are French and then German, and there are a difference in the management of the agreements

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Isabel da Costa: along the lines that Sophia and Thomas have explained, which are more important, I think, than the home country effect, but there seem to be a little home country effect. So I was wondering if they had something to say about that if they're aware of that, on the other hand, the fact that they're all German, then it enables better comparison, because the institutional contest is the same

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Isabel da Costa: in terms of legal rights for the work of representatives, and that fits into the issue of power. if I can develop a little bit more what I think about all

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Isabel da Costa: for me. Part of the power comes from the institutions

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Isabel da Costa: and the institutions, for example, in Germany would be the legal rights of the European works, councils, the legal, the legislation that enables negotiation, etc. There are obviously different from Tunisia, let's say, or even from France, so that then that leads into other strategies for the

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Isabel da Costa: actors in their social dialogue and in their collective action and solidarity and collective action would be other forms also of building power. But I

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Isabel da Costa: I cannot develop that right now. Thank you.

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Well, thanks, Itabel, for for that comment. yes, we are, of course. very well aware of your research, and of course we're well aware of that. kind of home country effect. that explains or

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what we see. Like companies, that sign global framework agreements come from a certain institutional background. And in our assemble, I mean, I said, the cases we presented today were like integrated in a wider projects where we focused on the implementation of global framework agreements in here, we mostly focused on German based companies, and that for the reason to have a better

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basis for a comparison between those cases, the case of chemicals is not a German base. It's a Belgium based company, but with a strong impact of a German employee representative within this. company! So there are certainly those factors that have to be taken into account. And Thomas, I think, on the last slide just

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mentioned, that those institutional contact factors is something that should be more maybe taking into account, and where we have to. Well, we maybe dig a little bit deeper into it. But we are well aware of that.

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I mean, maybe, and I put out something looking at the home country effect. The interesting thing is that the one company in which

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the European works councils and the World Works councils placed it.

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played the important role, was not a German company. It was a Belgium companies. In the 2 German cases. It was not the works councils who played any role in these cases. It was

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the the Ig Metal, the Headquarters Union, together with the with the global union, the respective globally. And this is the interesting thing. So it's not so easy with the home country effect. it can be. This is against what we would have expected. So, looking at the home country effect.

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so the in these 2 in the 2 German cases, it was

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the strategical capacity and decision making of the Ig metal and not of the works councils.

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So this is a this is really a thing we would would not have expected. But it is the case. So we have to think about what that's what that does mean for the home country effect. Okay, so far, we we haven't. I mean, we haven't thought about this enough yet, but we will do it later on. Thanks a lot for this hint.

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Isabel da Costa: I can. I just say I entirely agree, maybe, that that the home country effect quote unquote it's probably not the thing. And what is so appreciable in the research you did is that you really look into the local level. And how all of this is playing on. And it's much more complicated, complex. Sorry than home country effect. It's it entirely agree.

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Yeah.

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maybe I can add that

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for people who can read Germany have just published a

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a book about social and

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enforcing social standards along the global global value chains and There's a also an article by Thomas and Sophie in this book and by Katherine Kasey, who was co-organized on this session, and If anyone is interested in just said, we'll email, I will. You? sent you maybe also a copy. But at least

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link to the online version of this book.

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and it's an open access book.

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It's published in German, exactly, except on the the outing of capturing case in English. So you can at least read this in and the open access version?

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 so any other comments or

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questions.

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And maybe I I conclude this session, and with remarking, but with the with the comment and pr magnet, we have heard of very different cases, of a success, of participation

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in processes from South Africa with the success of in this court case, that participation is mandatory in South Africa and

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from Tunisia. With

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the long history of this Union during different authoritarian regimes, and always play an important role in democratic revolution, and

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from Isabel and Thomas and Sophie with the struggling of making international trade union solidarity, but also the forms of success in this kind of solidarity, and we did this without neglecting the the shortcomings and the limits of these kinds of.

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and participation. And so there's still a lot of work to do what we can have hope. And with this remark I want to complete this session and thank all the presenters and the audience for assisting to this session, and thanking particularly Isabel for participating in this session. Really, in the mid of the night between 2 and 40'clock. European time.

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So thank you for.

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So it's a bug.

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Isabel da Costa: Thank you, everybody. Bye, bye.

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Goodbye.