Fair Work in the Foundational Economy

Economy A man cleaning a floor
ProjectsMarch 4th, 2020

Low wages and poor working conditions are a challenge for many workers. In partnership with the Wales TUC, this project will look at challenges within specific sectors which put fair work out of reach for many of those in employment.

Aims

We want to find solutions to allow these jobs to pay a decent wage and provide fair working conditions.

What we are doing

The project focused on three sectors where unfair work is widespread: retail, hospitality and social care.  We engaged with workers, trades unions, employers and other stakeholders in these sectors to increase our understanding of the key challenges and the potential for change.

Key outputs

Evidence

The project began with a review of evidence:

We also published our views on proposals to increase fair work through social partnership and an analysis of the impact of Coronavirus on people in low paid work in a keynote report.

We then took an in-depth look at workers’ experiences in each of the sectors, the findings from which were summarised in three reports:

Engagement

We maintained interest in the project through regular articles on our website, occasional webinars, meetings with stakeholders and we also participated in Living Wage Week 2020 with a recorded discussion with employers and trades unions, an infographic and a Twitter Chat.

Recommendations

A round up of all the findings and our recommendations for action are in the final report: Fair work in the Foundational Economy: what should be done and the accompanying launch video.

Key outcomes

The project informed the Welsh Government’s thinking on fair work and in particular its legislation on social partnership. Our ideas for sector forums to bring together employers and employees informed the creation by the Welsh Government of a social care forum. We have also met with the Deputy Minister and other senior politicians.

This project has been funded through the Welsh Government’s Foundational Economy Challenge Fund

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