Project: Digitalization, Automation and Decarbonization (Barmetal)
The European research project Barmetal seeks to analyse the current situation and opportunities for strengthening collective bargaining in the metalworking industry in conditions of technological change, including in particular digitalization, automatization and decarbonization.
Project information
Project name
Digitalization, Automation and Decarbonization: Opportunity for Strengthening Collective Bargaining in the Metal Sector
Project manager at Linnaeus University
Bengt Larsson
Other project members
- Glenn Sjöstrand, Linnaeus University
- Giovanni Dosi (project manager), Maria Enrica Virgillito, Armanda Cetrullo and Laura Ferrari, SSSA, Italy
- Marta Kahancova, Tibor Mesman, Adam Sumichrast, Pavol Bors and Elena Buzasova, CELSI, Slovakiy
- Paulien Osse, Kea G Tijdens, Leontine Bijleveld, Daniela Ceccon, Gabriele Medas and Niels Peuchen, WIF, the Netherlands
- Petr Pavlinek and Monika Martiskova, CUNI, Czech Republic
- Mihail Arandarenko, Galjina Ognjanov and Dragan Aleksic, UBG, Serbia
- Jacek Kucharczyk, Dominik Owczarek, Malgorzata Koziarek, Rafał Załęski and Monika Pelc, IPA, Poland
- Alina Popescu, Irina Elena Ion and Ramona Iulia Dieaconescu, ASE, Romania
Participating organizations
- Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento S. Anna (SSSA; consortium leader), Pisa, Italy
- The Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI), Bratislava, Slovakia
- The Wageindicator Foundation (WIF), Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti (Bucharest University of Economic Studies; ASE), Bucharest, Romania
- Fundacja Instytut Spraw Publicznych (Institute for Public Affairs; IPA), Warsaw, Poland
- Ekonomski Fakultet, Univerzitet u Beogradu (Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade; UBG), Belgrade, Serbia
- Univerzita Karlova (Charles University, Faculty of Science; CUNI), Prague, Czech Republic
Financier
The European Commission
Timetable
1 Oct 2022–1 Oct 2024
Subject
Sociology (Department of Social Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences)
More about the project
The Digitalization, Automation and Decarbonization: Opportunity for Strengthening Collective Bargaining in the Metal Sector (Barmetal) project seeks to analyse the current situation and opportunities for strengthening collective bargaining in the metalworking industry in conditions of technological change, including in particular digitalization, automatization and decarbonization.
With this focus, the project directly responds to evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic accelerates the technology dissemination and the digital transformation of metal, engineering and tech-based industries and workplaces. It has increased the urgency and need for social partners to find joint approaches to manage a swift and sustainable digital transformation. Ceemet and IndustriAll Europe, the EU-level social partners in the metalworking industry, have published their joint vision of the challenges and opportunities of digitalisation for workers and employers.
The Barmetal project responds to these challenges and EU-level priorities in sectoral social dialogue and deepens the expertise in industrial relations by analyzing both the bargaining processes and outcomes (stipulations in collective agreements) across eleven EU member states and one candidate country (CZ, DE, DK, FR, HU, IT, NL, PL, RO, RS, SK, SE). The project explores how the challenges for working conditions, such as intensification of work, vocational education and changing demands for workers’ skills in metalworking companies across the EU create opportunities for strengthening collective bargaining at the workplace and sector levels.
The project places high priority on mutual exchange and learning tools among social partners between those member states that have a highly developed collective bargaining already and those where bargaining needs to be enhanced and strengthened. The BArmetal project thus provides expertise for enhancing industrial relations and establishes extensive interaction and cooperation between research partners and social partners.
The Swedish partner team – consisting of Professor Bengt Larsson, and Senior Lecturer Glenn Sjöstrand, at the Department of Social Studies at Linnaeus University – will perform the case studies in Denmark and Sweden.