You are here: Home > Events > Open seminar on working conditions for temporary workers from Poland in logistics companies in Germany
The Sociology of Work and Economic Sociology Department at the Institute of Sociology, University of Wrocław invites all intererested to an open seminar on working conditions for temporary workers from Poland in logistics companies in Germany.
At the meeting, the first results of his dissertation will be presented by Robert Koepp from the WZB Centre for Social Sciences in Berlin.
The date and place: 26 October 2022, room 205, Institute of Sociology, University of Wrocław, ul. Koszarowa 3
Title of presentation: How do Polish temp workers in the German logistics industry experience and reflect on work, precarity and marginalisation?
Abstract:
This talk will deal with the reflections, strategies and critique of Polish agency workers in German logistics towards precarious employment and inequality. The background is that the East German logistics industry is heavily sourcing cross-border migrants from Poland for warehouse and distribution centre work. In the low-road productive model of the company under study, polish agency workers are a crucial pillar in the workforce strategy. Yet they have to endure the worst employment conditions (income and time planning insecurity, unsocial working hours) within that workforce. The talk builds on a small qualitative subsample of narrative interviews (5 at the moment) within a larger sample on a company case of a lead logistics firm in Germany. There is already a body of literature on the patterns of inequality reproduced by non-standard employment among migrants. I want to draw on the work of Mrozowicki and Trappmann and focus on workers’ subjectivity and their moral economy. The underlying research project is ongoing. I will present the research design and first interpretation results.
About the speaker
Robert is a Research Fellow and PhD candidate in the WZB-coordinated joint project "Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society - The German Internet Institute". (Research group: Working in highly automated digital-hybrid processes). He studied sociology at the University of Leipzig, the University of Jena and Roskilde University (DK) until 2017. His research interests comprise productive models, the employment relationship and technological change in the logistics industry.