Ian Fitzgerald | Northumbria University (original) (raw)

Papers by Ian Fitzgerald

Industrial Relations Journal, 2020

The article addresses the changing nature of labour regulation through analysis of the National A... more The article addresses the changing nature of labour regulation through analysis of the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry, originating in 1981. It shows how multiple spatial regulatory scales, the changing coalitions of actors involved, employer and client engagement and labour agency have been critical to National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry's survival.

Current Sociology, 2021

The UK 2016 EU Referendum has introduced a period of uncertainty for both the indigenous populati... more The UK 2016 EU Referendum has introduced a period of uncertainty for both the indigenous population and for non-British citizens. This uncertainty is considered within a framework of the recent revisions in the sociology of moral panics through an analysis of interviews with Polish migrant workers. This analysis reveals two main discursive framing logics. The first logic refers to a self-reported anti-Polish migrant moral panic discourse that – according to respondents – was exploited by British anti-migrant campaigners. The second type of articulation illustrates the good moral panic logic, namely, a panicking discourse appearing among respondents about the vulnerability of their community in post-Referendum Britain. This article, however, problematises the good moral panic logic by eliciting competing narratives found in the interview data. The latter did not aim merely at stimulating caring attitudes but referred also to moral regulation techniques to manage Brexit-oriented risks...

Czech Sociological Review, 2015

An enlarged Europe after the May 2004 and January 2007 accessions has provided more extensive ter... more An enlarged Europe after the May 2004 and January 2007 accessions has provided more extensive territories over which firms and states can arbitrage labour costs and workers can seek employment. The main aim of the paper is firstly to present a political economy which sees migration and international production as part of wider processes of restructuring in general, and arbitraging labour costs in particular. Second, the paper explores the notion of organised labour as an important contester of process and outcomes of migration in relation to the example of Polish migrant workers in the UK. It is argued that three structural conditions underpin migration; uneven development within (and outside Europe); an intensification of competition and the drive towards flexibility. Further, capital is not footloose and migration has been used by countries such as Ireland and the UK to supply labour for a range of jobs in food processing, transport and other public services. States continually dr...

Immigration Policy and the Labor Market

1. The role of research in providing evidence to influence or support public policy – The current... more 1. The role of research in providing evidence to influence or support public policy – The current clear reason for this need is because of new Labour's evidence based policy approach, which permeates across all levels of the public sector. You witness it at a regional and local level, with for example One NorthEast and the local authorities. However, it is important to take a critical position on how evidence is gathered by Government and its agencies, and whether evidence shapes policy or vice-versa. If Government (at all levels) has an ideological or policy position which it seeks to implement, it can find or generate evidence to support its case. It can also, and has done this recently (the Alyson Pollock example with the NHS and the Private Finance Initiative) rubbish or seek to discount evidence which disagrees with its perspective. This is part of a process whereby certain 'favourite' research or evidence (often drawn up by think-tanks) is used to influence policy,...

This was an invited presentation at a Thompsons solicitors Employment Rights Unit Labour party an... more This was an invited presentation at a Thompsons solicitors Employment Rights Unit Labour party annual conference fringe meeting.

This reports back on the findings of a hate crime project undertaken recently in the UK. It is a ... more This reports back on the findings of a hate crime project undertaken recently in the UK. It is a final document intended for those who took part in the project.

This was a research project that investigated the engagement and attitudes of Northumbria Univers... more This was a research project that investigated the engagement and attitudes of Northumbria University academic staff to engagement in the wider economy.

Research was carried out with ‘Arch’, a third party hate incident reporting scheme in the North E... more Research was carried out with ‘Arch’, a third party hate incident reporting scheme in the North East of England, through which we were given access to data concerning reported and recorded incidents collected in Sunderland and Newcastle between 2005-2015. The data set comprises 3908 incidents in total, making this the largest data set of its kind in the UK. The data was cleaned to allow for statistical analysis defining the data through key variables including categories of hate incident (racist/religious based, homophobic/transphobic and disablist). This allowed observations regarding: similarities and differences between incident types in this region; the value of this type of model for recording and responding to hate incidents/crimes; and consideration of the role of frontline organisations, including Arch, in challenging hate incidents/crime.

This is a research briefing for the North East Race Equality Forum. It briefly details the hate c... more This is a research briefing for the North East Race Equality Forum. It briefly details the hate crime findings of a project undertaken in collaboration with Rafal Smoczynski of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Objectives and prior work - For many asylum seekers just getting to the UK is an achievement, let... more Objectives and prior work - For many asylum seekers just getting to the UK is an achievement, let alone obtaining refugee status. When ‘equality’ is achieved with other immigrant workers then the settlement process begins. For some this includes starting a business but there are a number of well documented barriers to business start-up for refugees as well as black minority ethic entrepreneurs, which have been highlighted in the North East region (BRKN, 2007). Given this Northumbria University has sought to engage with these communities. This paper represents on-going research which began with a Northumbria University funded project that supported two main workshops aimed at refugees who wished to start a business. Approach - The University sought to engage with this particular part of the community through a project which aimed to contribute to the widening of business start-up for refugees at a time of increasing economic uncertainty. One practical means that had become available ...

This was a joint keynote presentation undertaken for a partner session as part of the PIES Europe... more This was a joint keynote presentation undertaken for a partner session as part of the PIES European Commission co-funded project on the exchange of forensic DNA data under Prum.

Industrial Relations Journal, 2020

The article addresses the changing nature of labour regulation through analysis of the National A... more The article addresses the changing nature of labour regulation through analysis of the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry, originating in 1981. It shows how multiple spatial regulatory scales, the changing coalitions of actors involved, employer and client engagement and labour agency have been critical to National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry's survival.

Current Sociology, 2021

The UK 2016 EU Referendum has introduced a period of uncertainty for both the indigenous populati... more The UK 2016 EU Referendum has introduced a period of uncertainty for both the indigenous population and for non-British citizens. This uncertainty is considered within a framework of the recent revisions in the sociology of moral panics through an analysis of interviews with Polish migrant workers. This analysis reveals two main discursive framing logics. The first logic refers to a self-reported anti-Polish migrant moral panic discourse that – according to respondents – was exploited by British anti-migrant campaigners. The second type of articulation illustrates the good moral panic logic, namely, a panicking discourse appearing among respondents about the vulnerability of their community in post-Referendum Britain. This article, however, problematises the good moral panic logic by eliciting competing narratives found in the interview data. The latter did not aim merely at stimulating caring attitudes but referred also to moral regulation techniques to manage Brexit-oriented risks...

Czech Sociological Review, 2015

An enlarged Europe after the May 2004 and January 2007 accessions has provided more extensive ter... more An enlarged Europe after the May 2004 and January 2007 accessions has provided more extensive territories over which firms and states can arbitrage labour costs and workers can seek employment. The main aim of the paper is firstly to present a political economy which sees migration and international production as part of wider processes of restructuring in general, and arbitraging labour costs in particular. Second, the paper explores the notion of organised labour as an important contester of process and outcomes of migration in relation to the example of Polish migrant workers in the UK. It is argued that three structural conditions underpin migration; uneven development within (and outside Europe); an intensification of competition and the drive towards flexibility. Further, capital is not footloose and migration has been used by countries such as Ireland and the UK to supply labour for a range of jobs in food processing, transport and other public services. States continually dr...

Immigration Policy and the Labor Market

1. The role of research in providing evidence to influence or support public policy – The current... more 1. The role of research in providing evidence to influence or support public policy – The current clear reason for this need is because of new Labour's evidence based policy approach, which permeates across all levels of the public sector. You witness it at a regional and local level, with for example One NorthEast and the local authorities. However, it is important to take a critical position on how evidence is gathered by Government and its agencies, and whether evidence shapes policy or vice-versa. If Government (at all levels) has an ideological or policy position which it seeks to implement, it can find or generate evidence to support its case. It can also, and has done this recently (the Alyson Pollock example with the NHS and the Private Finance Initiative) rubbish or seek to discount evidence which disagrees with its perspective. This is part of a process whereby certain 'favourite' research or evidence (often drawn up by think-tanks) is used to influence policy,...

This was an invited presentation at a Thompsons solicitors Employment Rights Unit Labour party an... more This was an invited presentation at a Thompsons solicitors Employment Rights Unit Labour party annual conference fringe meeting.

This reports back on the findings of a hate crime project undertaken recently in the UK. It is a ... more This reports back on the findings of a hate crime project undertaken recently in the UK. It is a final document intended for those who took part in the project.

This was a research project that investigated the engagement and attitudes of Northumbria Univers... more This was a research project that investigated the engagement and attitudes of Northumbria University academic staff to engagement in the wider economy.

Research was carried out with ‘Arch’, a third party hate incident reporting scheme in the North E... more Research was carried out with ‘Arch’, a third party hate incident reporting scheme in the North East of England, through which we were given access to data concerning reported and recorded incidents collected in Sunderland and Newcastle between 2005-2015. The data set comprises 3908 incidents in total, making this the largest data set of its kind in the UK. The data was cleaned to allow for statistical analysis defining the data through key variables including categories of hate incident (racist/religious based, homophobic/transphobic and disablist). This allowed observations regarding: similarities and differences between incident types in this region; the value of this type of model for recording and responding to hate incidents/crimes; and consideration of the role of frontline organisations, including Arch, in challenging hate incidents/crime.

This is a research briefing for the North East Race Equality Forum. It briefly details the hate c... more This is a research briefing for the North East Race Equality Forum. It briefly details the hate crime findings of a project undertaken in collaboration with Rafal Smoczynski of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Objectives and prior work - For many asylum seekers just getting to the UK is an achievement, let... more Objectives and prior work - For many asylum seekers just getting to the UK is an achievement, let alone obtaining refugee status. When ‘equality’ is achieved with other immigrant workers then the settlement process begins. For some this includes starting a business but there are a number of well documented barriers to business start-up for refugees as well as black minority ethic entrepreneurs, which have been highlighted in the North East region (BRKN, 2007). Given this Northumbria University has sought to engage with these communities. This paper represents on-going research which began with a Northumbria University funded project that supported two main workshops aimed at refugees who wished to start a business. Approach - The University sought to engage with this particular part of the community through a project which aimed to contribute to the widening of business start-up for refugees at a time of increasing economic uncertainty. One practical means that had become available ...

This was a joint keynote presentation undertaken for a partner session as part of the PIES Europe... more This was a joint keynote presentation undertaken for a partner session as part of the PIES European Commission co-funded project on the exchange of forensic DNA data under Prum.