PhD candidate University of Duisburg-Essen
Katharina Bohnenberger is an Ecological Economist at the Institute for Socio-Economics (University of Duisburg-Essen) and consults as a policy advisor on topics like the just transition, green recovery and sustainable welfare. She has an academic background in Economics, Social Policy, Philosophy and Environmental Studies and has been working on sustainable digitalization for the Wuppertal Institute and the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). Her PhD is on Sustainable Welfare, a rising research field that analyses the integration of social and environmental policies and develops strategies to make welfare states resilient and in line with climate protection targets.
A Progressive Framework for Remote Working: Fairness, Sustainability and Digital Inclusion
This policy brief is an attempt to sketch out the baselines of a new progressive approach towards remote work. An approach that fosters social justice. An approach that takes seriously the promises and perils of digital transformation. Crucially, an approach that is compatible with ecological boundaries. In other words, the fact that proximity does not seem to play as big a role in shaping our world of work as it used to play does not have to go hand in hand with the erosion of workers’ rights. It does not have to exacerbate the worst excesses of digital capitalism. And it does not have to compound the destruction of the planet. These drawbacks are outcomes of political choices – not of natural laws. They are not inevitable.
Across three strategic levels, the policy proposals illustrate that progressives all across Europe have powerful strategies and tools at their disposal to prevent these outcomes: information; institutions; and labour law.
Read the paper:
A Progressive Framework for Remote Working: Fairness, Sustainability and Digital Inclusion
Political Mentor: S&D MEP Brando Benifei
Academic Mentor: Stewart Wood (Lord Wood of Anfield), Chair of the United Nations Association – UK