Project R-8791

Fairness, freedom and industrial relations across Europe: Up and down the meat value chain (Research)

The European economy is characterised by a strong de-verticalization of the productive process and shows serious structural problems also with regards to scarce protection of the workers' rights. As highlighted by ILO, the topic of "decent work" is strategic in respect of the supply chains of global dimensions (ILO, IV Report, 2016) and has to be addressed to pave the way "crisis recovery and sustainable development". Among the various productive systems affected by these complex phenomena, the project aims to analyze the meat industry, specifically focused on the pork industry. It shows, in this regard, serious structural problems that require a complex and comprehensive analysis. The project is aimed to analyse the entire pork value chain - and not only its processing sector- in a prospective embracing industrial relations, economic and sociological aspects. The value chain is a complex and relevant phenomena and any critical factor of the processing sector is originated by other criticalities affecting other related and interlinked sectors of the same value chain. Plus, the European socio-economic dynamics are not interconnected and any study relating with these themes has to adopt a transnational and comparative approach. The project aims to reinforce the social dialogue as a cornerstone of the Social Europe, called to play a crucial role in the multilevel system of European governance, in line with the provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (art. 151-156) and the European Political Agenda.

01 February 2018 - 31 January 2020