Fleksibilizacija i prekarizacija na tržištu rada: redefinisanje radnih odnosa u postsocijalističkom svetu

At the end of the twentieth century, after the changes in the political climate of Europe and the world, there were also correlated changes in the relations between employers, workers and workers’ unions. The causes of the changes that have taken place can be found both in the changed social reality of social relations (capitalism has taken the historical dominance over communism) and in a significant technological, primarily information and communication development. New forms of work engagement are emerging in new working conditions, while some previously marginalized forms of work are (re)affirmed as desirable. These new processes are reflected in two parallel directions of development of labour relations. Individualisation at work is marketed as a legitimate alternative to workers’ solidarity. Flexible labour relations, on the other hand, introduce insecurity of the employment and open door to a gradual diminution of attained labour rights standards. Postsocialist states share the common fate of the “periphery” of the global labour and capital markets, leading to the development of specific policies related to attracting foreign capital and tackling unemployment. In doing so, clearly differentiated phases of implementation of these policies and ongoing mistakes can be observed, although repeated by different states at different periods of time. The result of such developments is reflected in the current state of affairs, characterised by processes of slow and uncertain economic development, poor quality employment structure and a privileged position of foreign capital – these are the basic features of the so-called “race to the bottom” concept. Workers' rights are being severely diminished in the process, so today we can discuss about their devolution, their decrease to the level they were a hundred years ago. The analysis focuses on several countries in the region and compares them with the developed European countries. Differences and similarities are observed, following several indicators of the development of labour relations: the emergence of new forms of work engagement, the survival of workers’ unions and the exercise of collective rights, and positioning of states’ authorities towards favoring job flexibility and forms of precarious work. Prevailing methods that will be used are normative method and usage of available statistics, as well as the case analysis. Author's starting hypotheses relate to answering to two questions: are there points of contact in the countries of the center and the periphery of the labour and capital markets when it comes to changes in the understanding of work and employment, and whether these changes are really needed in the light of redefining employment and labour in new circumstances