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// Politics of work

Green transition, employment restructuring and the UK steel industry

A just transition must go beyond traditional economic restructuring to balance decarbonisation with workers’ rights, job security and meaningful participation, rather than relying on business interests to determine outcomes. Read more of the article

A just transition needs strong unions and enforceable rights

A just transition requires enforceable workers’ rights and strong collective bargaining to ensure employers share the costs of decarbonisation fairly and protect the livelihoods of those most affected. Read more of the article

The inconsistency of just transition narratives and why it matters for workers and communities

The meaning of a just transition is shifting from climate ambition and protecting workers’ livelihoods towards energy security and economic competitiveness, risking weaker climate action and less proactive worker protection. Read more of the article

More than a roof: Climate displacement, inequality and work tied to place

A just climate transition must empower vulnerable communities to shape adaptation and relocation decisions while addressing existing inequalities and protecting their livelihoods, social ties and self-determination. Read more of the article

A just transition for whom, and on whose terms?

The just transition has gained global recognition through labour unions’ efforts, but its effectiveness depends on adapting the concept to diverse workers’ realities while building their collective power to shape decarbonisation fairly. Read more of the article

Modern slavery and knowledge production: Lived experience as expertise

Although UK modern slavery policy now calls for involving people with lived experience, it leaves major ethical and practical gaps, raising difficult questions about how to do this meaningfully without causing harm or exploitation. Read more of the article

Living on the edge: International students, borders and invisible labour in Northern Cyprus

The article shows how international students in Northern Cyprus are embedded in “nested borders” that turn higher education into a survival pathway and a form of invisible, precarious labour for displaced people. Read more of the article

The constitutive and discursive role of borders in neoliberal settler-colonialism

The article argues that in Israel–Palestine borders function less as markers of sovereignty than as tools that manage, depoliticise and exploit Palestinian labour while sustaining the fiction of a conflict between two separate states within a settler-colonial system. Read more of the article

Migrant Workers’ Future Looks Daunting: Reforming the Sponsored Visas System Can Change That

Migrant workers are vital to the UK economy, but since Brexit, the government’s restrictive employer-sponsored visa system has enabled widespread exploitation, deepened worker vulnerability, and undermined progressive labour reform. Read more of the article

Building Better Systems for Survivors of Exploitation

Modern slavery in the UK, especially in Northern Ireland, persists due to systemic neglect, slow justice, and inadequate survivor support, leaving victims trapped while abusers go unpunished. Read more of the article