LabourFlows: Infrastructures of Labour Power Flows through Warehouses in Europe

ABOUT THE PROJECT

LabourFlows is an international collaborative research project (Infrastructures of Labour Power Flows through Warehouses in Europe) that studies precarious work. It examines how workers move (“flow”) through warehouses using an infrastructural lens. Instead of focusing only on workers or workplaces, the project studies the infrastructures that make this movement possible. These include multiple actors, such as individuals, public institutions, and intermediaries. The project also highlights invisible but important work, such as care and domestic work.

LabourFlows empirically relies on three European logistics hubs: Southern Poland, Limburg (Belgium), and Styria (Austria). These hubs provide entry points for reconstructing and understanding the broader infrastructure of labour flows

RESEARCH CONTEXT

Over the last 50 years, the idea of a steady job providing a decent living has eroded for many Europeans. The promise of a ‘living wage’ – sufficient to support workers and their families – has faded, leaving an increasing number of people struggling to make ends meet, even while employed. Jobs have become more precarious and insecure, wages have stagnated or declined, and inequality has grown. Major economic disruptions, such as the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, have exacerbated these challenges. The consequences extend beyond the workforce, impacting society as a whole. Declining birth rates, aging populations, and acute labour shortages across Europe reflect the far-reaching effects of these ongoing trends.  

 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 

 Theoretical: To demonstrate how an infrastructural lens reconceptualizes precarious work as dynamic flows of labour shaped by ongoing maintenance, reappropriation, resistance, and transformation. 

Methodological: To develop methodologies to identify, examine, and interpret precarious work as infrastructurally constituted labour flows. 

Empirical: To empirically capture and comparatively analyze existing infrastructures and labour flows, revealing how infrastructural maintenance, reappropriation, and resistance reshape these dynamics affecting precarity of work and life. 

PROJECT TEAM

Austria – Styria

Prof. Renate Ortlieb – Principal Investigator

Arthur Hoffmann – Pre-doctoral Researcher

Kathrin Amler – Student Researcher

Belgium – Limburg

Prof. Patrizia Zanoni – Principal Investigator

Floris de Krijger – Doctoral Researcher

Poland – Southern Poland

Dr Miłosz Miszczyński – Principal Investigator

Dr Aneta Pieczka – Post-doctoral Researcher