The rise of the dual labour market: fighting precarious employment in the new member states

through industrial relations (PRECARIR)

Project no. VS/2014/0534

POLICY BRIEF SLOVENIA

PROJECT GOALS

The project investigates the role of industrial relations in addressing the changing labour market and,
in particular, the growth of precarious work. The analysis focuses on the initiatives, responses, and
best practices that trade unions and employers’ associations developed in addressing precarious work
in the post-2008 period. The report uses a qualitative and comparative approach to study the
dimensions of precarious employment, including low pay, irregular working hours, low job security
and limited representation of workers’ rights. This two-dimensional approach to precarious
employment allows mapping differences in the following sectors: construction, healthcare,
metal/automotive, retail and temporary agency work (TAW).

DUAL LABOUR MARKET IN SLOVENIA

Our study suggests that in certain sectors of the Slovenian economy the labour market was strongly
polarized even before the outburst of the crisis, and that during the crisis the polarization reduced, or
rather “transformed” into unemployment. The labour market dualization/polarization is most
conspicuous in the construction sector (before the crisis) and the retail sector. We revealed a gradual
increase in the total share of the most widespread forms of precarious work and unemployment in
Slovenia during the last decade. In addition, the typical defining traits of precarious work (low wages,
the growing insecurity of employment) are no longer limited to precarious work only but have become
characteristic of arrangements that are formally regarded as standard employment.

RESPONSES OF SOCIAL PARTNERS TO PRECAROUS EMPLOYMENT

In Slovenia, the goal of trade unions’ strategies is to transform precarious work arrangements into
standard employment relations. The government and the employers are generally in favour of this
goal. Accordingly, the interest organizations – trade unions and employers’ association, have been
relatively closely involved in the preparation of the new law on employment relations (ZDR-1 of
2013) which attempted to restrict the use of the most widespread forms of precarious work while
liberalizing the dismissal procedure for regular workers. According to these key features the law was
obviously a result of the political exchange between the key, organized economic interests on the
macro level, that is, within the Economic and Social Council.

POLICY IMPLICATION

It seems that the segmentation of the labour market in Slovenia has been increasing despite the explicit
legal restrictions on the most widespread forms of precarious work. This suggests that in the wider
context, national policies restricting precarious work – even if based in the laws that are aimed at
improving the status of precarious workers and even if aimed at including social partners – have a
quite limited effect. Although it is very likely that the post-crisis precarization of employment in
Slovenia would have been even more extensive had the mentioned laws not been in place, the fact is
that the precarization of employment in Slovenia (including in the post-crisis period) is on the
increase.

MORE INFORMATION

Project website: http://www.dcu.ie/link/current-projects/precarir2014-2016.shtml.

Author of the Slovenian report: Miroslav Stanojević & Branko Bembič