Atlantic Forum Spring Conference
Nothing is perfect but we just reached the perfection The…
COVID-19: Virtual Free Movement of Workers
The interrelation between telework and the COVID-19 pandemic has offered a completely new insight into the traditional organisation of work and led to the development of the phenomenon referred to as the ‘new normal.’ By focusing on the EU workforce, this thesis investigates how TICTM (Telework and Information and Communication Technology-based Mobile Work) has shaped their behaviour during COVID-19 from the point of view of European trade unions. This research contributes to the existing literature by arguing that the preparedness of individual member states played a crucial role in workers’ trust in national government and the extent to which the European workforce was able to benefit from the TICTM during a chaotic, precarious and unpredictable period. A semi-quantitative approach was adopted using the constructivist grounded theory methodology to explore workers’ experiences with TICTM, generating a model of TICTM factors shaping their behaviour based on participant’s accounts. Eleven virtual interviews were conducted with European trade unionists, one e-mail interview with the European Trade Union Confederation’s representative and sixty-five responses were obtained via survey. The model developed three theoretical codes: adaptation to the new normal, moral uncertainty, and digital movement.
