Patrick Witzak (doctoral fellow from the Hans-Böckler-Foundation)

Organització: Institut Interuniversitari López Piñero i Facultat de Ciències Socials

Presenta: Marina Requena-i-Mora i José Manuel Rodriguez Victoriano

Data: Dijous 13 juny, 11 h.

Aula: 3A3, Facultat de Ciències Socials

Abstract: Co-operation in transnational activist networks in and around mobilizations influences the legal and binding degree of new forms of transnational labor regulation. These legal orders with a transnational scope as, for example, International Framework Agreements, labels, conventions or recommendations are discussed and established within mobilizations in the course of recent industrial accidents. The mobilizations take place within transnational activist networks struggling for better working conditions, e.g. due to inadequate safety at work in cross-border value chains. Against this backdrop, the presentation provides insights into how a cross-border network of activists is constructed in the context of transnational labor regulation over time and how this affects the degree and forms of legal orders. Based on a methodical approach triangulating process tracing, temporal bracketing and discourse network analysis, first insights and comparisons of activist networks in and around the mobilizations following the blaze in the Pakistani textile factory “Ali Enterprises” in 2012, which was the main producer for the German textile company KIK, and the particularly high accident frequency at the “El Cerrejón” coal mine operated by Anglo American, BHP and Glencore in Colombia in 2017 causing serious injuries for employees are outlined.

Patrick Witzak is doctoral researcher at the Chair of Sociology with focus on Comparative and transnational Sociology and holds a doctoral scholarship from the Hans-Böckler-Foundation. In his research, he focuses on processes of juridification in the field of transnational labour regulation and the role of legal professionals within these processes. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Duisburg-Essen with focus on organisation, work, and social structure. He completed the Master of Arts in Sociology with focus on comparative studies in society and transnationalisation at the University of Duisburg-Essen with a Hans-Böckler-Foundation scholarship.