As part of a series of seminars on “People and Culture in Construction”
funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) we are running
a seminar on foreign workers in construction at The University of Reading
on 26 November.
Construction employers in many countries rely heavily on foreign
workers and ‘black-market’ employment, as construction work becomes
considered undesirable among citizens in wealthy countries. This
trend, however, is not universal: some countries have developed
construction forms and processes that succeed without recourse to foreign
labour, providing construction jobs sufficiently attractive to their
indigenous citizens instead. This seminar will explore the reasons
for these different development trajectories and the possibilities for
and difficulties of moving from one mode to another. Presenters
include several researchers/academics from the UK, Denmark, and the
Netherlands, as well as a representative of the DTI’s Construction Sector
Unit and the former general secretary of UCATT. (Please see the
programme below for details.)
Topics to be addressed include the various means of addressing a widely
touted skills shortage in the UK construction sector. Construction
employers may already turn to workers from elsewhere in the EU, though
the employment of such workers is likely to be anything but
straightforward. Questions may arise concerning the challenge of
integrating such workers and the effects on other elements of the sector
(wages, technology, etc.). Employers are also turning to workers
from outside the EU. Is this trend benign, or does it undermine the
future employment of UK workers? Finally, what can we in the UK
learn from the experience of countries where foreign workers are not
commonly employed in construction?
If you are interested in attending, please contact Rathisha Fernandes on
[log in to unmask] for a registration form. If you would like
more information, please contact me by return email.
David Bartram
Dept. of Sociology
University of Reading
- ESRC Transdisciplinary Research Seminar Series
Seminar Friday 26 November 2004,
Black Horse House, The University of Reading
9.00
9.30 Arrival,
coffee
9:30
9:45 Chair’s
Introduction
9.45
10.20 Michael
Coffey, University of Greenwich
“Foreign
Labour and its Effect on Change”
10.20
10.55 Clive
Young, DTI Construction Sector Unit
-
“Engaging
overseas workers to address construction's
-
skills needs - a Government perspective”
11.00
11:20 Coffee
11.20
11.55 Wilco
Tijhuis, University of Twente (Netherlands)
- Working
In An Open Construction Industry: Challenges for the
- Parties
Involved”
-
11.55
12.30 Open
Discussion
12.30
1.30 LUNCH
1.30
2.05 George
Brumwell, UCATT
“Foreign
Workers in Construction: A Trade Union Perspective”
2.05
2.40 Nikolaj
Lubanski, National School of Social Work (Denmark)
“Why
are there so few foreign workers in the Danish labour
market?
Trends in labour supply in the construction sector”
2.40
3.00 Tea
3.00
3.35 Dave
Langford & Andrew Agapiou, University of Strathclyde
Title
TBA
3.35
4.00 Open
Discussion
Department of Sociology
University of Reading
Whiteknights, PO Box 218
Reading RG6 6AA
England
phone: +44 118 378 6108
fax: +44 118 378 8922
http://www.reading.ac.uk/~lws00db
http://www.reading.ac.uk/sociology
