Fair Work in Wales Symposium, 30 November 2022:
In-Person Event, Cardiff
In his speech to the Welsh Labour Party Conference in March 2017 the then First Minister. Carwyn Jones said ‘I want to make Wales a fair work nation’. The Fair Work Commission was set up to make recommendations about making this happen. Its report was published three years ago. Since then, significant progress has been made. These achievements include: the establishment of the Social Partnership and Fair Work Directorate; the setting up of a series of fair work forums to consider how fair work can be achieved in particular sectors; and the introduction of a new piece of legislation designed to put social partnership on a statutory footing. Welsh Government remains committed to building ‘an economy based on the principles of fair work’ as stated in its Programme for Government.
Now, then, is a good time to assess how this activity has affected the lived experience of work in Wales today. The speakers at this Symposium will present evidence drawn from a variety of unique sources, including one-off surveys of workers, responses to short quizzes carried out either side of the pandemic, analysis and surveys of those accredited as Real Living Wage employers, and longitudinal household surveys conducted during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
The event is co-sponsored by the ESRC’s Productivity Outcomes of Workplace Practice, Engagement and Learning Hub (PrOPEL) and the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD). It has been organised by WISERD Co-Directors Professor Alan Felstead and Rhys Davies and it will be co-chaired by Professor Colin Lindsay, the Director of PrOPEL and Professor Ian Rees Jones, the Director of WISERD.
Speakers include:
- Joe Allen, Policy Officer, Wales TUC
- Rhys Davies, Senior Research Fellow, Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data, Cardiff University
- Professor Alan Felstead, Research Professor, Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data, Cardiff University
- Dr Ben Gray, Public Health Researcher, Public Health Wales
- Dr Lois Griffiths, Senior Public Health Research Officer, Public Health Wales
- Dr Deborah Hann, Reader in Employment Relations, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University
- Professor Ed Heery, Emeritus Professor of Employment Relations, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University
- Dr Katy Huxley, Research Associate, Administrative Data Research Wales, Cardiff University
- Professor Jean Jenkins, Professor of Employment Relations, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University and Chair of the Wales TUC’s The Future of Devolution and Work Commission
- Nisreen Mansour. Policy Officer, Wales TUC
- Dr David Nash, Reader in Employment Relations, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University