C*LLaS

Research project within the framework of the Horizon Europe 2022 grant.

Funding period: January 2023 – December 2025

Project website

European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) Research Unit

Project Leadership

Prof. Dr. Eva Kocher, EUV, Juristische Fakultät, Center for Interdisciplinary Labour Law Studies (C*LLaS)

Research Team

Dr. Ziga Podgornik Jakil, EUV, Juristische Fakultät, Center for Interdisciplinary Labour Law Studies (C*LLaS)
Dominic Andres, Juristische Fakultät, Center for Interdisciplinary Labour Law Studies (C*LLaS)

Project Objectives

With the ageing population and the increasing number of people needing personal assistance, the care sector is becoming vital to the future of the European Union (EU). However, the care sector in the EU suffers from chronic labour shortages and care workers frequently report low wages, precarious working conditions, high physical workloads, and discrimination in the workplace. In addition, women, who make up the majority of care workers, and migrants, who are increasingly being recruited to fill labour shortages in the care sector, especially as “live-in” domestic workers, are particularly affected by exploitation and discrimination. To address these issues effectively, the existing legal framework for regulating the care sector and care workers' access to the right legal instruments at EU level need to be improved.

The Care4Care project aims to examine, in a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective, the working conditions of care workers and the factors that increase the risk of their discrimination and social exclusion in six EU Member States (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Sweden). The study consists of a socio-legal analysis and an empirical investigation of the workplace experiences of care workers in each country. The units of analysis include paid care workers providing health and personal care in institutions or in home care, including nurses in hospitals, geriatric and paediatric care workers, and care workers caring for people with disabilities.

The main objective of the project is to develop appropriate tools to improve job quality and combat discrimination in the care sector. It aims to create a model for the analysis and regulation that can be replicated in different EU countries and generate new relevant intervention strategies for the European institutions. In concrete terms, this will be implemented in three project deliverables: a policy paper, a training program for care workers' representatives, and a web platform for care workers.

An important goal is to give care workers and their representatives a say in the design and implementation of policies and instruments that affect their lives. For this reason, the project partners will work with various stakeholders, including trade unions, family and employer organizations, equality and monitoring bodies, policy makers and care workers themselves. The vision is that improving the working conditions and representation of care workers will lead to an improved quality of care services provided.

The Care4Care Consortium is coordinated by a team at University of Florence (Italy) and involves 10 partners: Lunds Universitet (Sweden), Universidad de Girona (Spain), Universidad de Sevilla (Spain), Europa - Universität Viadrina (Germany), Uniwersytet Rzeszowski (Poland), Tuscan Organisation of Universities and Research 4 Europe (Belgium), Université de Bordeaux (France), European Federation for Family Employment & Home Care (EFFE) (Belgium) and European Federation for Services to Individuals (Belgium).
The focus in Germany is carried out with a research unit headed by Prof. Dr. Eva Kocher at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder). The main objective of the German research unit is to develop proposals for policy measures needed to improve working conditions and reduce inequalities in the care sector at EU level.

Publications:

Work package 2 - Care Workers, Job Quality, and Inclusive Working Conditions (Germany)
Work Package 3 - ‘Discrimination Map’ and inequalities in care sectors (Germany)

Partner Work Packages in progress.