Employment, Justice, and the Future of Work

Brian Berkey (Wharton, University of Pennsylvania); Ben Ferguson (University of Warwick); Nici Mulkeen (Newcastle University)

Arthur Lewis Building: Room 2.017

Most healthy adults typically spend one third of their waking hours at work, five days a week, for half a century or more. Jobs are at the centre of our lives. They provide us with an income, services, and, at least for many, identity. They are also the source of a great number of our relationships.  

But there is an increasing number of harmful and pernicious behaviours and circumstances that people are being subject to in the workplace:  

• Toxic relationships (discrimination and harassment) 
• Domination, manipulation, and exploitation 
• Casualisation and instability in the ‘gig economy’ 
• Racial and gender pay gaps 
• ‘Bullshit jobs’ and ‘shit jobs’ 
• Low pay 
• Exclusionary practices and policies 
• Rise of robots and AI eliminating and reshaping jobs, creating fear of future unemployment. 

Several questions follow from this: 

• What rights are people entitled to with respect to both the benefits and harms of work? 
• Do people have a right to work? 
• Should people be compelled to work? 
• Can justice require individuals to perform certain kinds of work? 
• Who is responsible for toxic workplace environments? 
• How are the benefits and burdens of work to be justly distributed? 
• What protections should be implemented against the harm or wrongs associated with work? 
• Should workers have the right to bargain away workplace protections for increased pay or for other protections? 
• Do all workers have the right to strike? 
• How should we provide people with an income and services in the future?