25.01.2021
'We're not in it together': Global Labour in the Pandemic
Online Panel of the Working Group on Labour Struggles of the German Association for Critical Social Research and the Global Labour Journal
The COVID-19 pandemic is intrinsically linked to the way work is organised in global capitalism. The health risks for workers are considerable, in particular for those who do not have the opportunity to work from the safety of their home. Care workers, be they paid or unpaid, are on the frontline of the efforts to contain the spread of the virus – be it by working in hospitals or nursing homes, looking after sick relatives, or schooling children at home. The economic fallout from the health crisis and its management hit those hardest who own nothing but their labour power, especially in countries with limited state support for people who are left without work. At the same time, resistance against the responses of employers to the pandemic and the lack of protection and state support for workers is emerging. In this panel, we want to discuss the effects of the pandemic on workers around the world, the forms of labour unrest and mobilisation that are emerging in its wake, and the prospects for organised labour.
Panellists:
Madhumita Dutta (Ohio State University, USA)
Anne Engelhardt (University of Kassel, Germany)
Ben Scully (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa)
Chairs:
Peter Birke (University of Göttingen, Germany)
Alexander Gallas (University of Kassel, Germany)
16 February 2021, 6-7.30pm Central European Time
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrdu6vrzkvHtGvX-DQkbVfowk6ZVI6-Spd