About the Project
The aim of the COV-WORK research project is to investigate the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic for the world of work in Poland, with a particular focus on the workers’ perspective.
To what extent and in what ways does the socio-economic crisis caused by the pandemic affect changes in the organization of work, collective labour relations and labour discourse, as well as the socio-economic awareness of working Poles and their individual and collective life strategies? In this research we address these questions by analyzing: (1) the socio-economic consciousness of working Poles in the post-pandemic situation, including their attitudes towards capitalism, state intervention, social welfare, and collective action in labor relations; (2) biographical experiences, including professional experiences, as well as coping strategies of people working in three sectors (i.e. education, health and social care and logistics) that were particularly affected by the pandemic; (3) new and old conflicts in collective labour relations, as well as the mechanisms of their resolution by social partners (trade unions, employers’ organizations, government and local government) and the ways they are presented in the media discourse, both in the press and on the Internet portals.
Particular attention is paid in the project to the biographical experiences and life strategies of selected groups of workers who were considered “essential” at the height of the pandemic (including doctors, nurses, teachers, caregivers of the elderly, and workers in logistics centers and courier services delivering food and other goods during the economic shutdown, often via Internet platforms). By looking at their situation, we will examine the extent to which their work was defined as essential both by themselves and in media discourse, and what consequences this had on the quality of their work after the pandemic. Furthermore, the role of the pandemic in the already ongoing processes of digitization and automation of work, which in many cases contribute to the deterioration of employment conditions, will be analyzed. To carry out the project, original empirical research will be conducted. Additionally, we will collect and analyse the available secondary data as well.
The project is funded by the National Science Centre (OPUS 19, contract no. UMO-2020/37/B/HS6/00479) and carried out within a consortium in which the leader is the University of Wrocław, Faculty of Social Sciences (leader: dr hab. prof. UWr Adam Mrozowicki from the Institute of Sociology), and the partner is the Warsaw School of Economics, the College of Economics and Social Sciences (the team led by dr Jan Czarzasty, Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Economic Sociology) in the years 2021-2025. The project will also include collaboration with Prof. Valeria Pulignano’s team from the Centre for Sociological Research at the Catholic University of Leuven carrying out the ERC project ResPecTMe (Researching Precariousness across the Paid/Unpaid Work Continuum).
