Sonila Danaj

• Team Leader at European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research

This article explores the career pathways and work practices of Albanian labour migrants in Italy during the economic crisis. It shows how long-term migrants utilise resources accumulated from the early experiences of their (often) informal migratory pathway to address the crisis-induced structural and economic challenges. The questions we ask are:...

To analyse the policies, posting trends and worker experiences during the pandemic, this study uses the concept of motility, i.e. workers' mobility capital, and examines how posted workers' geographical mobility, their access to and conditions of employment and social protection were impacted. The authors discuss how the measures against the pandem...

Drawing on research conducted in the framework of the POSTING.STAT project for Slovenia and Poland, this article contributes to the literature on the posting of third-country nationals (TCNs) within the European Union from the perspective of the sending countries. Our research questions are: What are the current posting trends and patterns of mobil...

This article highlights the growing significance of intermediated temporary labour mobility, and how it has put further pressure on industrial relations institutions in Central and Eastern Europe since EU enlargement. The social partners’ modest regulatory role has been further challenged and reconfigured by the spread of labour market intermediari...

The article focuses on the occupational safety and health (OSH) vulnerabilities of transnational workers in the construction sector in the United Kingdom (UK) and the British unions’ involvement in OSH enforcement and their challenges in transnational workplaces. Based on interview insights with transnational construction workers, trade union repre...

In this book chapter we describe posting to Austria in terms of working conditions, rule enforcement and the fight against social dumping. As a predominantly receiving country for posted workers, Austria has developed a complex governance system for the implementation of the posting of workers regulation and the enforcement of rules against wage an...

The peer-reviewed book series Società e trasformazioni sociali reflect Ca’ Foscari scientific high standards and publishe online accessible books on pivotal social, political and economic issues of our time in a sociological perspective. Work, social inequalities, state, welfare, migration and racism, with their ongoing transformations and various...

In this policy brief, the authors discuss the social protection of transnationally mobile construction workers in terms of rules, structures, and practices. They focus primarily on the challenges faced by posted construction workers as a result of their cross-border work experiences in accessing social protection during posting and the potential im...

The article based on data collected in the frame of the Posting.STAT project presents the trends of postings to Austria and discusses them in relation to some of the prevalent posting drivers like labour cost differentials between sending and receiving countries, wage and social dumping, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Estimates for the 2011–2021 period...

This country report presents a comprehensive overview of the posting of workers between EU/EEA countries and Austria. The available data show postings to and from Austria occur at large and increasing numbers. We estimate the number of postings to Austria in 2019 to have been at least 320,480, the number of unique posted workers at least 85,697, an...

In this policy brief, the authors discuss the tension between national anti-dumping measures and the judicial regulation of posting by the European Court of Justice decisions through the example of the case ‘Maksimovic and others versus Austrian public authorities,’ and how this decision might affect Austrian authorities’ efforts to prevent and pro...

In this working paper we investigate how the Posting of Workers Directive interplays with and is influenced by other EU and national rules and regulations on labour law, migration law, social security, health insurance, temporary agency work, and company law and how this might lead to potential inequalities, unfair competition, and exploitation of...

This article explores the mobility pathways of temporary EU workers and the implications that transnational temporary mobility has on their labor market outcomes and access to social rights and benefits. The experiences of temporary EU migrants working in the UK show that despite the narrative of the borderlessness of the common European labor mark...

This article examines the role of the media in the EU freedom of movement debate through the lens of high-circulation German and UK newspapers during the first half of 2014. It explores how the media problematised migration from Eastern European member states and its influence on national host country labour markets and welfare systems. It also ana...

The report presents findings from a study that aimed to investigate how the Posting of Workers Directive and other EU regulations interplay with Austrian rules and regulations on social security, health insurance, temporary agency work, and company law, and to identify existing gaps in implementation and practice. The study combines secondary and e...

In this chapter we focus on the occupational safety and health of temporary cross-border labour migrants posted to Austria and the Slovak Republic. Based on empirical interview data with public authorities, social partners and workers in both countries, we explain how cross-border temporary labour mobility exposes posted workers to OSH-related vuln...

In this chapter we focus on the occupational safety and health of temporary cross-border labour migrants posted to Austria and the Slovak Republic. Based on empirical interview data with public authorities, social partners and workers in both countries, we explain how cross-border temporary labour mobility exposes posted workers to OSH-related vuln...

This Policy Brief describes the trend of the posting of third-country workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina via Slovenia to Austria and its drivers. It also discusses why workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina agree to be posted via Slovenia to work in Austria, the challenges they face and the impact posting has on the host country. The Brief concludes...

In this new study conducted in the framework of the project “Con3Post – Posting of Third Country Nationals. Mapping the Trend in the Construction Sector”, our colleagues Sonila Danaj and Leonard Geyer in collaboration with Sanja Cukut Krilić, Kristina Toplak & Mojca Vah Jevšnik from the “ZRC SAZU – Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Scienc...

This paper contributes to the debate on the implementation of the Posting of Workers Directive and the mechanisms for the protection of posted workers through the study of the process of transposition and implementation of the Directive in the four candidate countries of the Western Balkans: Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. The pape...

The needs assessment conducted in the frame of the EEPOW Project provides a review of the capacities of the four candidate countries of the Western Balkans, namely Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, to implement the Posting of Workers Directive (96/71/EC). The findings indicate that the Directive has been partially transposed into nat...

This Policy Brief aims to present findings about the language barriers faced by posted workers (a particularly vulnerable category of temporary cross-border mobile workers) in nine EU countries and to discuss the implications these may have for their occupational safety and health (OSH). It also offers recommendations for policy that could help red...

The comparative study is based on the findings of the nine case study reports prepared by the partners of the POOSH consortium, namely: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The main research question was to see how the interplay of EU-regulation and national OSH systems affects the health and safety of...

This article provides a review of the literature on posting and occupational safety and health (OSH). Although the vulnerabilities of posted workers are discussed in the literature on posting, and the overall OSH risk factors, including those relevant to migrant workers, are discussed in the literature on OSH, the two strands of literature barely i...

This research report prepared by Katarina Hollan and Sonila Danaj in the frame of the POOSH Project provides first insights on the OSH vulnerabilities of temporary migrant workers in Slovakia, particularly posted workers and third country national workers. The authors explain the multiple vulnerabilities temporary migrant workers face in the countr...

Even though OSH authorities in Austria pay special attention to the increased vulnerabilities of posted workers in terms of OSH, there is little documentation and research on this matter. This study aims to close this knowledge gap by providing a first mapping of the OSH situation of posted workers in Austria. Available in the e-observatory (poosh....

This paper describing and analysing recent developments in employment and social policies in Austria was compiled in response to the request by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) in view of its delegation visit to Austria in early May 2018. It analyses recent developments in employment/social affairs and related policies and maps...

This policy brief aims to provide a brief overview of the current decentralization of social services in Kosovo. The authors address the present challenges faced by Centres for Social Work and non-governmental organizations and provide policy and practice recommendations to make the decentralization process fully operational to the benefit of the m...

This comparative report on integrated case management for employment and social welfare users analyses the legal, policy and institutional framework for collaborative approaches and the practices applied by national and local actors as a basis on which to build up an integrated case management system in the Western Balkans. Integrated case manageme...

This article engages with IHRM debates on the transnational regulation of labour, exploring how migration policy and work fragmentation affect employment dynamics in multi-employer settings. It draws from two qualitative case studies on migrant workers in British hospitality and construction, focusing on regulatory outcomes of the Agency Worker Dir...

The article explores the experience of becoming Italian citizens and by extension European Union (EU) citizens among Albanian migrants in Italy. It analyzes Albanian migrants’ reasons for applying for citizenship, how it affects their status, access to social rights, labor market, and identity. It also focuses on the effects of an EU member state c...

This is a compendium of conference papers edited by Godole and Danaj

The fall of communism in the self-isolated Albania attracted growing media attention in the West, but more so in the neighbouring countries such as Italy, where the consequences were felt directly as a result of the migration flows that preceded and followed the fall of the regime. This article analyses the coverage of the fall of the communist reg...

In this chapter we look at trade union strategies for organizing posted workers in high-income European Union countries from the perspective of both unions and workers. We focus on construction as a sector characterized by highly fragmented labour relations, resulting from long and complex subcontracting chains and the use of agency workers, self-e...

Danaj and Godole examine the complex relationship between women parliamentarians and the media in post-communist Albania through qualitative interviews with eight female members of parliament in office for the period 2009-2013 and find support for all three determinants of parliamentarians’ presence in the media: elite status, active involvement, a...

Qualitative study done in 2013, in some of the parts of Northern and Central Albania

Ky studim fokusohet në analizën se si ndikohen gratë dhe vajzat nga gjakmarrja dhe si mund të kontribuojnë ato vetë për të lehtësuar dhe zgjidhur situatën në të cilën ndodhen. Ai është kryer në periudhën shkurt-prill të këtij viti dhe u paraqit si draft në tryezën e rrumbullakët, të organizuar më 29 prill 2013, posaçërisht për të marrë sugjerime ng...

Raporti analizon ligjërimin e dy figurave kryesore politike, Kryeministrit Sali Berisha dhe Kryetarit të Partisë Socialiste Edi Rama, si edhe 5 nga gazetat kryesore (Panorama, Shekulli, Shqip, Mapo dhe Gazeta Shqiptare) në vend gjatë dy periudhave - 3 muaj përpara dhe 3 muaj pas zgjedhjeve të 2009-ës, dhe atyre të 2011-ës. Studimi është kryer nëpër...

This publication was partially funded by the U.S. Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons The national coalition "United for Child Care and Protection (BKTF) operates in Albania since February 2003 and consists of 28 national and International organizations. The goal of BKTF is to provide advocacy and lobby for the p...

This article investigates the political controversies related to the role the international community plays and should play in contemporary Albanian politics through an analysis of the media accounts of the January 21, 2011 demonstration. We analyze opinion articles in the mainstream media and find that there are two representations of the politica...

This thesis looks at the political controversies in contemporary Albanian politics through the analysis of the media accounts on the January 21, 2011 demonstration. We analyse the opinion articles in mainstream media and find out that there are two representations of political reality that compete for legitimacy: one in favour of the government and...

Artikulli bën një analizë të literaturës ekzistuese që shqyrton raportin midis gjinisë dhe korrupsionit. Në të argumentohet se gratë nuk janë më pak të korruptuara se burrat për shkak të vlerave të tyre të brendshme, por për shkak të mungesës së aksesit ndaj pushtetit, dhe faktorëve socialë e kulturorë që kanë shkaktuar këtë mungesë, por që gjithas...

Grate ne zonat rurale perbejne me shume se 25% te elektoratit shqiptar. Praktikisht ky grup eshte inekzistent ne hapesiren publike dhe per pasoje i padukshem ne procesin politik. Per nje sere arsyesh, qe variojne nga struktura patriarkale e shoqerise shqiptare deri tek pasojat e tranzicionit, grate ne zonat rurale kane pak ose aspak ze dhe jane te...

This research is undertaken in order to reduce the gap of the existing information on the division of the private and public spheres in the Albanian households. It aims to analyze and to present to the reader through current literature review and empirical data the separation of both spheres for girls and boys, women and men in today’s Albanian hou...

Ky raport synon të paraqesë pikëpamjen e organizatave jofitimprurëse rreth problemit të trafikimit të fëmijëve në Shqipëri. Duke marrë për bazë Strategjinë Kombëtare për Luftën Kundër Trafikimit të Fëmijëve dhe Mbrojtjen e Fëmijëve Viktima të Trafikimit (më poshtë do t’i referohemi me emërtimin Strategjia) dhe Planin e Saj të Veprimit 2005-2007, ra...

Return migration plays a crucial role for a country like Albania, that has one of the highest rate of migration compared to its population in Central and Eastern Europe, and which is also likely to become a destination country for external migratory flows in the coming years. Placed also in the context of integration into the European Union, return...