Sabina Stan

Explaining Romanian labor migration: from development gaps to development trajectories

While migration scholars often neglect the national and transnational relations of production and exchange within which labor migration occurs, international political economists tend to treat labor migration as a mere side effect of transnational capitalism. By contrast, this article considers the constitutive role that post-socialist transformations and the EU integration played in shaping the various patterns of intra-European east–west labor migration since 1989. We argue that labor migration was not driven by development differentials between the west and the east as such, but rather by the particular type of development the latter adopted after the fall of communist regimes and by the way post-socialist countries were integrated in transnational circuits of production and exchange. We are sustaining our claims by a comparative assessment across time of the articulations between the different modes of production and different labor migration patterns during different stages of Romanias post-socialist transformation. This historical comparison enables us to insulate the influence of changing levels of development and modes of production on labor migration because our focus on a single country is keeping the influence of other national institutional factors constant.

European collective action in times of crisis

This introductory article to the special issue proposes a more encompassing view of transnational collective action in Europe, which goes beyond the classical, country-by-country oriented, comparative industrial relations approach. Instead, we propose an extension of focus to capture also other actors, action repertoires, places and levels. Specifically, we introduce and integrate the contributions to this issue, by extending our analytical perspectives from traditional forms of employment to precarious and posted workers; from national and European trade union structures to informal groups of workers and social movements; from unions’ traditional strongholds in manufacturing multinationals to workers in the meat industry, health care or occupied factories; from national unions seen as coherent units to a perspective that emphasizes their internal contradictions; from the analysis of discrete actions to historically more encompassing perspectives; and from utilitarian views on collective action to a larger perspective that assesses the analysis of the importance of collective struggles for the making and unmaking of a new European working class.

Is migration from Central and Eastern Europe an opportunity for trade unions to demand higher wages? Evidence from the Romanian health sector

Industrial relations scholars have argued that east-west labour migration may benefit trade unions in Central and Eastern Europe. By focusing on the distributional aspect of wage policies adopted by two competing Romanian trade unions in the healthcare sector, this article challenges the assumption of a virtuous link between migration, labour shortages and collective wage increases. We show that migration may also displace collective and egalitarian wage policies in favour of individual and marketized ones that put workers in competition with one another. Thus, the question is not so much whether migration leads to wage increases in sending countries, but whether trade unions’ wage demands in response to outward migration consolidate collective solidarity and coordination in wage policy-making or support its individualization and commodification.

Introduction: politicizing the transnational

Labor movements have always found it difficult to reveal and transform the social relations that constitute markets. The growing transnational movements of goods, capital, and services in themselves have therefore not triggered closer trade union cooperation across borders. Transnational collective action also requires conscious choices and a mutual understanding that solidarity across borders is warranted. For this reason, this special issue of Labor History assesses the role that politicization processes play in triggering transnational union action.

Accumulation by Dispossession and Public–Private Biomedical Pluralism in Romanian Health Care

ABSTRACT Neoliberal reforms in health care are an accumulation by dispossession. In examining this in Romania, we show that neoliberal reforms led to an uneven landscape of public and private care. We document how patients variously situated in Romanian society respond to this situation, and demonstrate the instability of their strategies—restraining from formal care, lifting-off from public care and hooking-up to private care. Public–private biomedical pluralism proves to be detrimental to vulnerable and better-off patients alike.

Tackling healthcare associated infections: an exploratory study of cleaners' perceptions of their role.

Good hospital hygiene is integral to the prevention of healthcare associated infections (HCAI). Clinical evidence suggests a link between poor environmental hygiene and healthcare associated infections. A qualitative design, using focus group interviews, was used to explore cleaners’ perceptions of their role in the prevention of HCAI. Focus group interviews were conducted with cleaners in two large hospitals in the Republic of Ireland. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis and four themes emerged. These were supervision and communication; roles and task allocations; workload and staffing levels; and education. Findings suggest that cleaners feel they have a role in the prevention of HCAI. However, this role is often undervalued due to the perceived low status of cleaners. Problems of communication in the workplace frequently interfere with work organisation. Furthermore, blurring of role boundaries between cleaners and healthcare assistants can create additional difficulties.