Charles Woolfson

Charles Woolfson is professor of labour studies at REMESO. He was guest professor during 2008 and 2009, and since 2010 has been a permanent appointment. Previously, he was professor of labour studies in the School of Law at the University of Glasgow, Scotland and an associate member of Centre for Research on Racism, Ethnicity and Nationalism, University of Glasgow. He recently lived in the Baltic States for ten years, conducting teaching and research both as a Marie Curie Experienced Researcher and most recently (2004-2007), as a Marie Curie Chair.

His main interests are the impact of labour migration on labour standards, working environment issues, trade unionism in post-communist EU Member States, and racism and xenophobia in Eastern Europe.

Woolfson is also professorial visiting fellow, Industrial Relations Research Centre, Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales and has been an honorary visiting professor in International Employment Relations at the Sir John Cass Business School, City University London.

Selected publications

Woolfson, C. 2012. “Pushing the envelope: the `informalization' of labour in post-communist new EU member states”, Work, Employment and Society, republication of 2007 article in E-special E-Issue Work beyond employment: representations of informal economic activities. ISSN: 0950-0170. http://wes.sagepub.com/cgi/collection/work_beyond_employment

Juska, A. and Woolfson, C. 2012. “Policing political protest in Lithuania”, Crime, Law and Social Change. Vol.57, No.4. pp. 403-424. ISSN: 0925-4994 DOI:10.1007/s10611-012-9363-4.

Woolfson, C. Herzfeld Olsson, P. and Thörnqvist, C. 2012. “Forced Labour and Migrant Berry Pickers in Sweden”, International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations.Vol.28, No. 2. pp. 147-176. ISSN: 0925-617x.

Thörnqvist, C. and Woolfson, C. 2012. “When tender turns tough: posted workers and the tendering regime in the Swedish construction industry”, Construction Management and Economics. Special issue on Human Resource Management. Taylor& Francis. Vol. 12. ISSN: 1466-433X. DOI: 10.1080/01446193.2011.640338. (forthcoming).

Thörnqvist, C. and Woolfson, C. 2011. ”Dog den svenska modellen i Vaxholm? Laval-målets följder för den svenska arbetsmarknaden”, Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv Vol. 17. No. 3. pp.2-24. ISSN: 1400-9692.

Woolfson, C. and Kallaste, E. 2011. ‘Illusory Corporatisms in the Baltic States’, Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology, Vol. 2, No. 1 (3) pp. 51-72. ISSN 2081-9633.

Woolfson, C. Thörnqvist, C. and Sommers, J. 2010. “The Swedish model and the future of labour standards after Laval”, Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 41, No.4. pp. 333–350. ISSN 0019-8692. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2338.2010.00572.x

Woolfson, C. 2010. ‘“Hard times’ in Lithuania: Crisis and ‘discourses of discontent’ in post-communist society”, Ethnography, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 487-514. ISSN: 1466-1381. DOI: 10.1177/1466138110372586. URL: http://eth.sagepub.com/content/11/4/487.

Woolfson, C. 2010. “The Race Equality Directive: ‘Differentiated’ or ‘differential’ Europeanisation in the new EU member states?” European Societies, Vol. 12. No. 4. pp. 543 – 566. ISSN: 1469-8307.DIO:10.1080/14616696.2010.483005. URL: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713685208.

Forthcoming and recent conference papers

I. Genelyte, A. Juska and C. Woolfson “The ‘new’ Baltic migration: Simple ‘economic determinism’ or a quest for social justice?” The 6th Nordic Working Life Conference, Changing World of Work - Nordic Working Life and Research under pressure? April 25th - 27th 2012 - Elsinore, Denmark.

C. Woolfson and K. Frick, ‘Determinants of workplace health and safety practice in Latvia’, paper to international workshop, Cardiff Work Environment Research Centre (CWERC), 9 May 2012.

P. Herzfeld Olsson and C. Woolfson, ‘Migrant workers rights: the case of berry pickers in Sweden’, Labour Rights as Human Rights? Migration, labour market restructuring and the role of civil society in global governance, UNESCO-MOST Conference 2012, Norrköping, May 30-June 1, 2012.

C. Woolfson, I. Genelyte and A. Juskas, ‘Crisis, social trust and migratory exit from Lithuania’, ‘Trust and Social Change’. 26th Conference of the Nordic Sociological Association, 15-18 August 2012, University of Iceland, Reykjavik.

C. Woolfson and C. Thörnqvist, ‘Labour standards in Sweden after Laval’, Ninth Annual IMISCOE Conference, Mobility as the new paradigmatic perspective in the social sciences? Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES), University of Amsterdam, 28-29 August 2012.C.

Woolfson, ‘Safety or Profit? The lessons of the Deepwater Horizon disaster’, 2nd International Conference on Vulnerable Workers and Precarious Work in a Changing World, Middlesex University Business School, London, 10-11 September 2012.

C. Woolfson, ‘Forced labour in Sweden: The case of migrant berry pickers’, 2nd International Conference on Vulnerable Workers and Precarious Work in a Changing World, Middlesex University Business School, London, 10-11 September 2012.