1,721,063 research outputs found
Il lavoro portuale europeo nel contesto delle global supply chains: Il caso del porto di Genova
No full textQuesto paper restituisce i primi risultati empirici di una ricerca in corso sulle dinamiche della trasformazione del lavoro portuale in chiave comparata, nei rispettivi porti di Genova e Anversa. Partendo dall’analisi della documentazione raccolta attraverso l’uso di metodi qualitativi nel porto di Genova, l’articolo pone l’accento sulla relazione tra il ruolo degli attori che controllano ampi segmenti delle catene della fornitura e la loro capacità di plasmare la struttura del lavoro portuale. Viene mostrato in che modo le strategie consolidate dei principali attori, volte al perseguimento delle economie di scala nel contesto delle catene globali della fornitura, producono pressioni sul porto di Genova tali da modificare non solo la configurazione tecnica dei terminal, ma il meccanismo di funzionamento del pool di manodopera stesso, costretto al ricorso di risorse esterne. I processi di flessibilizzazione prodotti dalla concentrazione dei traffici sanciscono un passaggio che chiama in causa il ruolo dei vincoli istituzionali rispetto alla performance dei porti e dei sistemi di lavoro portuale. In prospettiva di una comparazione con il porto di Anversa, viene effettuata una ricognizione della letteratura e del quadro teorico di riferimento necessario per interpretare la condotta degli attori portuali e per cercare di riconoscere l’esistenza di quei vincoli benefici per gli attori coinvolti e per il sistema contrattuale del lavoro portuale
Il lavoro portuale ai tempi delle meganavi : una comparazione tra i porti di Genova e Anversa
No full textDock labour regimes in the European port system: comparative case studies in container terminals of Genoa and Antwerp
No full textIn the last decades, the global dynamics of contemporary capitalism have revolutionized the structure of port labour. European ports, embedded in ever changing economic and logistics systems, were confronted with shifting port governance arrangements, and started to witness a substantial transition that speeded in late 1990s, when structural changes in the port environment occurred in terms of economic, logistics and institutional setting. Ports became a mere “pawn in the game of global corporate interests and intermodal networks” (Slack, 1993), an “element in the value-driven chain system (Robinson, 2002), increasingly conceived not as individual places that handle ships, but as turntables within global supply chains and global production networks” (ibidem). Referring to the radical change in the management of the whole supply chains, Bonacich and Wilson (2008) coined this shift in perspective as logistics revolution: “ideally, there should be no point, from production to final sale, when goods sit around waiting for further processing”. Circulation, in other words, has become a part of the production process itself (Chua, 2014). Competition shifted from the firm level to the supply chain level (Bonacich & Wilson, 2008). The above changes have influenced drastically the port environment and the competitive outlook for established load centres, reshaping port scenarios and enabling newcomers to enter the port scene. Meanwhile, the overall port labour has experienced a metamorphosys, in order to adapt to the new scenarios: the juridical, professional and societal status
of dock labour changed as well. How exactly these phenomena have affected dock labour, is one of my concerns. Terminal containers, in particular, are a prism through which is possible to observe such dynamics, an appropriate empirical ground in which to test how the new paradigms of global circulation and production have influenced the organizational patterns of dock labour. It is thus relevant to analyse the interplay of the above phenomena in the European port environment by the viewpoint of dock labour, in light of the recent functional and spatial development of the European container port system via the
forces of an ever-changing market environment (Notteboom, 2012). The key issues that often appear in labour reform processes relate to the classification of dock work, the legal status
of the dockworker, the functioning of labour pools, the arrangements at the work floor and the qualification of dockworkers (Notteboom, 2010). The idea of my research is to analyse such factors, as well as the social processes triggered, by adding a more detailed perspective and applying it to the specific case study of dock labour regime in terminal containers of Genoa Psa Voltri Prà (Voltri Terminal Europe) and Antwerp in Belgium (Europa Terminal). Both terminals are managed by Psa International (Port of Singapore Authority), one of the world’s largest container terminal operator. Through a comparative analysis between the two case studies, it is possible to explain the implications of different dock labour regimes and organizational models, as well as the consequences of further sociologically relevant
elements. The final aim of my research is to give an empirical contribution in this under-researched field of enquiry.
Therefore, following the conceptual framework provided by Theo Notteboom, the research I am trying to develop wheel around the following questions: To what extent do the constraints of the global supply chain affect dock labour regime in the European ports? Why do such processes differ among the ports of Genoa and Antwerp? After five months of fieldwork, and almost fifty semi-structured interviews to “privileged witnesses”, I have had the possibility to explore deeply the port of Genoa, as well as the city. The empirical results so far show the distinctive characteristics of a composite and contemporary phenomenon under way, since the dock labour regime has been eroded from within, but some persistent organizational forms of labour are still there. 66 6th Ethnography and qualitative research conference Power relations and reciprocal constraints among the actors involved are the results of path dependent routines and practices sedimented in the time, that have led to a strong decrease of the bargaining power during the last decades. The increase of container traffic in the terminal container of Voltri Prà has been accompanied by a significant reorganization and efficiency improvement, made necessary by the ever-growing search for competitiveness by the terminal operators. Furthermore, the phenomenon of naval gigantism has produced a working concentration, with an increase in peak workloads and productivity levels. This has led to a worsening of the qualifications required by the flexible labour pool. The difficult match between the skills required and available skills produces the use of temporary staff from agency Intempo and double shifts. Some key actors have talked about “self-exploitation”, in o rder to chase the productivity required by the market. All these aspects are still under analysis. The empirical strategy is to collect data about the evolution of flexibility, labour productivity in function of the of labour costs, safety, the incidence of labour cost per container, etc., in order to assess such trends, and compare them with the case study in the terminal container of Antwerp, in Belgium
Port labour between conflicts and participation
No full textThere are no doubts about the drastic decreasing of the bargaining power of Dockworkers in the last years. No impact has been as devastating as the innovation introduced into the organization of labour
within ports. The dimension of the maritime port cluster has been historically between the local interests and the global trade. The central question for trade unions of Dockworkers is therefore “how they
engage with international market making and the politics of European Union” (Barton & Turnbull 2002). Both product and labour market outcomes are the result of social conflict between the principal
actors within ports. How can we interpret the attempt of a Sectoral Social Dialogue for Ports, recently established? The dilemma, here, “is the focus on how workers must negotiate the unevenly developed
geography of capitalism if they are to develop common cause with workers located elsewhere”. The spatial embeddedness of their work and the geographical contexts within which workers find themselves can have significant impacts on their political and economic behaviours. The analysis of working conditions’ within ports and the unions’ strategies allow us to assess the impact of globalization on labour. In this paper, I will focus on the European Social Dialogue for Ports through this attentiveness
Port Regionalization and Dock Labour regimes in the European Seaport System: comparative analysis in container terminals
No full textTechnological revolutions, scale increases in ship types and terminals, increased containerisation, changes in inland transport requirements, the rise of terminal networks and the functional integration of terminals in supply chain management practices and broader logistics poles, have led to renewed market requirements on dock labour. According to the conceptual framework of Notteboom (2011), market players demand a maximization of the performance of dockworkers and a minimization of the indirect costs of port labour. The response to changing market requirements takes place within a wider setting of legal and social conditions. However, the organization of port labour and the associated dock labour systems vary considerably throughout Europe. The key issues that often appear in labour reform processes relate to the definition of dock work, the legal status of the dockworker, the functioning of labour pools, practical arrangements at the work floor and the categorization and qualification of dockworkers.
European seaports, territorially embedded in a historically path dependent and contingent institutional framework (Jacobs & Hall 2007), started to witness a significant transition that speeded in late 1990s. While these processes reshaped port scenarios, the overall port labour structure has experienced a metamorphosis. Moreover, most ports have witnessed a decrease or a stagnation of the number of dockworkers.
The aim of my research is to analyse such factors, as well as the social processes triggered, by adding a more detailed perspective and applying it to the specific case study of port labour in terminal containers of Genoa (Italy) and Antwerp (Belgium). The research I am trying to develop wheel around the following questions: To what extent market forces are changing and shaping dock labour regimes in Europe? Is port labour system in the European ports being adapting to the changing market environment or not? Why the organisational models of dock labour differ among the ports of Genova and Antwerp? Port industry - and the regional environment in which ports operate (Ducruet, 2009) -, is an appropriate empirical ground in which to test how the new paradigms of global circulation and production influence labour conditions. The outcome of such studies might provide some useful tools for the policies about the European port labour regulation, both at national and supranational level
Il lavoro portuale europeo nel contesto delle global supply chains : evidenze empiriche dal Porto di Genova
No full textQuesto paper restituisce i primi risultati empirici di una ricerca in corso sulle dinamiche della trasformazione del lavoro portuale in chiave comparata, nei rispettivi porti di Genova e Anversa. Partendo dall’analisi della documentazione raccolta attraverso l’uso di metodi qualitativi nel porto di Genova, l’articolo pone l’accento sulla relazione tra il ruolo degli attori che controllano ampi segmenti delle catene della fornitura e la loro capacità di plasmare la struttura del lavoro portuale. Viene mostrato in che modo le strategie consolidate dei principali attori, volte al perseguimento delle economie di scala nel contesto delle catene globali della fornitura, producono pressioni sul porto di Genova tali da modificare non solo la configurazione tecnica dei terminal, ma il meccanismo di funzionamento del pool di manodopera stesso, costretto al ricorso di risorse esterne. I processi di flessibilizzazione prodotti dalla concentrazione dei traffici sanciscono un passaggio che chiama in causa il ruolo dei vincoli istituzionali rispetto alla performance dei porti e dei sistemi di lavoro portuale. In prospettiva di una comparazione con il porto di Anversa, viene effettuata una ricognizione della letteratura e del quadro teorico di riferimento necessario per interpretare la condotta degli attori portuali e per cercare di riconoscere l’esistenza di quei vincoli benefici per gli attori coinvolti e per il sistema contrattuale del lavoro portuale.This paper gives the first empirical results of an ongoing research on the dynamics of the European port labour in comparative perspective. Starting from the analysis of the documentation obtained through the use of qualitative methods in the port of Genoa, the article focuses on the relationship between the role of the actors who control large segments of the supply chains and their ability to shape the structure of the port labour. The proven strategies of the major market players, in the pursuit of economies of scale in the context of global supply chains, produce pressure on the port of Genoa, which would alter not only the technical configuration of the terminal, but the functioning of the labor pool itself, constrained in the use of external resources.
The flexibility processes generated by the merger of trade sanction a shift that calls into question the role of institutional constraints with respect to the port performance and the European port labor systems. In the light of a comparison with the port of Antwerp, this paper provides a recognition of the theoretical framework necessary to interpret the behaviour of port actors and to assess the existence of beneficial constraints both for port actors and for the contractual system of port labour
Towards the mapping of port labour systems and conflicts across Europe: a literature review
No full textThis article presents a literature review on labour dynamics in European ports. The aim is to provide a detailed and critical appraisal of the recent academic literature on port labour studies, in order to develop a comprehensive mapping of the variety of port labour regimes and conflicts in Europe with the ultimate aim of revealing the changing profile of labour requirements as a consequence of the structural transformations in the overall logistics chain. The review mainly considers the literature published during the period 2000-2017. Since ports have been explored by means of different theoretical approaches, paradigms and perspectives, the study aimed to foster a multidisciplinary approach between some streams and to consolidate them wherever possible. In the first part of the article, the main definitions, ideas and concepts developed in the literature by scholars on seaport research and port studies are reviewed and analysed. The second part discusses the literature on port geography and the third part addresses port labour dynamics in particular. The conclusions draw from the perspective of the maritime-logistics chain to analyse the variety of port labour systems and summarise the literature reviewed, stressing the need for further studies
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