Articles by Tibor Meszmann

January 31, 2018

Temporary Agency Work as a Form and Channel of Labour Migration

by Tibor Meszmann  

Among industrial relation specialists it is a common statement that in our times, atypical employment arrangements are becoming typical, or even the norm, and standard employment contracts the exception. This description fits well the recent rebound of employment via temporary agencies in Central Eastern Europe, and more specifically, Hungary. Employment via temporary agencies is an atypical and flexible form of employment. It is based on a triangular relationship, in which an employee signs an employment contract with a temp agency, but (s)he is then leased to a user company, where the actual site of wo ..

May 9, 2017

Socially Destructive Amendments to the Hungarian Labour Code Need to be Opposed

by Tibor Meszmann  

While demonstrations in Budapest and international reactions expressed outrage over the Hungarian Government’s attempt to shut down Central European University (CEU), on 11 April 2017, the Economic Committee of the Hungarian Parliament was also proposing legislative amendments to the Labor Code. The amendments – to the Labor Code, which is already often referred to as the “slave-labor law” (rabszolgatörvény) – would enable an even more flexible, employer friendly use of working time, especially in the production segment of manufacturing. Instead of the currently, already very flexible reference pe ..

September 15, 2016

Precarious employment and the role of trade unions in post-socialist Central Europe

by Tibor Meszmann  

Since the outbreak of the global economic crisis in 2008, precarious employment has increasingly become the focus of attention for socially responsive international organizations and critical scholars and activists. Precarious employment has found its place at the centre of employment and social policy debates. Common in the conceptualization of precarious employment is the “lack of decent jobs, security, protection and rights.” A recent ILO report, for example, underlines the most common forms of precarious employment relations, trends and features by noting that: “more than 60 percent of workers world ..