A Progressive Framework for Remote Working: Fairness, Sustainability and Digital Inclusion
This Policy Study was written in the framework of the FEPS YAN (Cycle 7) by the Working Group on Remote Work (members: Fabian Ferrari, João Albuquerque, Justine Gangneux, Katharina Bohnenberger, Mihail Caradaica).
The Young Academics Network is a cooperation between the Karl-Renner-Institut and the Foundation for European Progressive Studies. It gathers promising progressive PhD candidates and young PhD researchers ready to use their academic experience in a debate about the Next, Progressive Europe.
Abstract
This FEPS YAN policy study is an attempt to sketch out the baselines of a new progressive approach towards remote work. An approach that fosters social justice. An approach that takes seriously the promises and perils of digital transformation. Crucially, an approach that is compatible with ecological boundaries. In other words, the fact that proximity does not seem to play as big a role in shaping our world of work as it used to play does not have to go hand in hand with the erosion of workers’ rights. It does not have to exacerbate the worst excesses of digital capitalism. And it does not have to compound the destruction of the planet. These drawbacks are outcomes of political choices – not of natural laws. They are not inevitable.
Across three strategic levels, the policy proposals illustrate that progressives all across Europe have powerful strategies and tools at their disposal to prevent these outcomes: information; institutions; and labour law.