The problem with the Covid convergence
A surprising global trend in the pandemic is reduced inequality across countries—but the convergence reflects losses at the top, not gains at the bottom.
Greater equality: our guide through Covid-19 to sustainable wellbeing
The pandemic has reinforced the case for egalitarianism to define the ethos of the welfare state.
Minimum-wage directive: yes, but …
The draft minimum-wage directive is a crucial first step but more needs to follow on the way to a social Europe.
A framework directive on minimum income: towards decent incomes for all
The European Commission proposal on minimum wages does not exhaust the need to ensure minimum incomes for all.
Reconfiguring welfare in an eco-social state: participation income and universal services
The problem with existing systems of income support is not their conditionality but their presumption that only market participation is a legitimate contribution.
In-work poverty in times of pandemic
The coronavirus crisis is exacerbating in-work poverty in the EU—and a powerful raft of labour-market and welfare measures is needed for an adequate response.
What Europe can learn from living-wage campaigns
The UK’s Living Wage Campaign is a successful experiment in broad-based social advocacy.
Including racism in the discussion of wellbeing at work
The sociologist David Williams has said racism makes us sick and this is also true at work. How can we create workplaces which promote wellbeing for all?
Why EU action on minimum wages is so controversial—yet so necessary
The opening of debate on minimum wages across the EU has precipitated a Nordic union reaction against incursions on collective bargaining.
The minimum wage in Germany five years on
When the minimum wage was introduced in Germany in 2015, there were febrile forecasts of huge job losses. These have proved minimal—while incomes and consumption have benefitted.
Isn’t a wealth tax common sense?
The wealth tax proposals advanced by Democratic US presidential primary contenders have drawn vehement criticism from many who should be supporting them.
Fears and hopes around future minimum wages
The proposal by the European Commission to legislate on fair EU minimum wages has excited contrasting attitudes among trade unions in member states.
What to do about economic inequality?
Economic inequality has burgeoned as income from capital has risen faster than growth. Time to change the owners of capital.
International tax emergency: a critical time for developing nations to speak up!
An OECD proposal to reduce transnational tax evasion contains flaws which developing countries must challenge before it is set in stone.
The EU needs a ‘Social Imbalances Procedure’
The focus of the European Union on fiscal consolidation has left European societies out of kilter and undermined the union’s legitimacy. A Social Imbalances Procedure could begin to put that right.
The new Spanish minimum wage
Raising wage floors is one way to reduce inequality and stimulate recovery in Europe. A big uplift in the Spanish minimum wage this year provides a test bed.
Public discourse in the populist age—a trade-union perspective
Winning the battle against the populists means foregrounding and addressing social inequalities, not presuming political liberalism monopolises the alternative.
Big Data and its enclosure of the commons
Digital dystopias are overdone but inequality is rising. The answer lies in treating data as a commons and Big Data as a collective-action problem.
