The COVID-19 pandemic put to the test the resilience of care systems across Europe. On top of the acute challenges arising specifically from COVID-19, the pandemic has in many ways crystallised long-term structural problems in how care services are funded, designed, and delivered. The last special issue of Transfer, the European review of Labour and Research which will be presented at this ETUI-EPSU webinar explores these significant challenges for the care sector and delves into alternative futures for care workers and care work. The speakers will shed light on the contested and contradictory dynamics surrounding the creation of a transnational European health-care system and will look more closely at the long-term care sector in Ireland. This case shows how comparatively low public expenditure on care provision and the increasing marketisation of care services have undermined the provision of quality care and decent work. The discussion will also review the key priorities that have emerged for trade unions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Welcome by Philippe Pochet, General director, ETUI and Editor of Transfer and Jan Willem Goudriaan, General Secretary, European Public Service Unions (EPSU) 

Introduction of the special issue of Transfer by Valeria Pulignano, Professor of Sociology at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) and Mathew Johnson, Lecturer in HR Mgt/Employment Studies, Alliance Manchester Business School and University of Manchester - Download here the slides

Discussion moderated by Adam Rogalewski, EPSU-policy officer for health and social services

-Time for a paradigm change in understanding the emerging European health-care system, Sabina Stan, Assistant professor, School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, Dublin City University and Roland Erne, Professor of European Integration & Employment Relations at the UCD College of Business - Download here the slides 

 -Two decades of trade union activity in the Irish long-term care sector, Caroline Murphy, Department of Personnel and Employment Relations, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick - Download here the slides 

Comments: Marie Butler, Irish Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) 

Q&A 

Twitter hashtag for this event: #TransformingCare

Relevant publications:
 
ETUI Working paper 2019.11: She works hard for the money. Tackling low pay in sectors dominated by women – evidence from health and social care