Health and reducing disparities in health between and within countries are among the principal global sustainable development objectives for the period 2016-2030. The incidence of Occupational Diseases (OD) is characterized by very distinct differentiation, both regional and sectoral, and has considerable dynamics in time and place. Given that Czechia is at the top among all EU member states in terms of employment in the automotive industry and production of new vehicles, new research on OD in the automotive industry acquires importance. The Ph.D. Thesis is conceived as an ecological correlation study focusing on the study of the determinants of OD in automotive industry. Its own core work is to analyze 32,646 cases of OD (in the past 20 years) and a set of data from a survey of 247 companies of the automotive industry (employing nearly 110,000 employees, i.e. 78 % of the economically active population working in this sector). In the present work are used available data from routine statistics, data from registers and basic sanitation data from a questionnaire survey. The study innovatively links research of Global production networks and medical-geographical approach. At the end of the Ph.D. Thesis, specific outcomes for praxis and discusses possible topics for further research in this area are...

The main theme of this master's thesis is an effort to explain the integration of transnational corporations from developing countries into the economic globalization. Firstly, we define the main concepts, such as process of globalization and competition. Then, we specify the most important characteristics of transnational corporations from developing countries, we identify major incentives and strategies of their integration into the global competition, we also devote our attention to measurement of degree of their integration into the global economy and evaluate their main competitive advantages and disadvantages. In the analytical part of the work we use quantitative analysis in order to find the differences between transnational corporations from developing countries and their counterparts from developed countries in the transnationality index, diversification of industry and industrial sector in which these companies operate. The last part is focused on a case study of an Indian transnational conglomerate Tata Group. On this example we show the practical aspects of integration of transnational corporations from developing countries into the global economy.

Le concept de travail décent a été présenté par le Directeur général du Bureau international du travail, en 1999, comme l’objectif prioritaire de l’Organisation internationale du travail permettant à chaque femme et chaque homme d’exercer une activité dans des conditions de liberté, d’équité, de sécurité et de dignité. Il regroupe quatre piliers interdépendants que sont l’emploi, la protection sociale, le dialogue social et la promotion des droits au travail. De manière inédite, l’OIT impose un cadre d’action pour tous les États membres. Evoluant en fonction des conditions socio-économiques de chaque État membre, le concept de travail décent est susceptible d’être défini localement tout en ayant un contour universel. La traduction du concept est facilitée par le biais des programmes par pays de travail décent (PPTD), relevant de la coopération technique du BIT, et des indicateurs mesurant le travail décent. Le concept apparaît alors comme un objectif de portée universelle et non comme une norme juridique. Si la coopération technique de l’OIT facilite la réalisation du travail décent, son action normative est également essentielle. L’action normative doit aussi s’orienter vers le concept de travail décent, comme le montrent la Convention du travail maritime adoptée par la Conférence internationale du travail en 2006 et la Convention n°189 concernant le travail décent des travailleurs domestiques adoptée en 2011. Toutefois, perçu comme un slogan politique pour redonner une visibilité à l’OIT, fragilisée par le contexte de la mondialisation, le concept de travail décent a été critiqué pour son caractère minimaliste et ignoré au sein de l’UE. La confrontation entre le concept de travail décent et le droit de l’Union révèle alors un paradoxe entre l’accroissement des conditions de vie et de travail indécentes au profit d’un renforcement du droit du marché du travail ainsi que du droit du marché intérieur et l’engagement de tous les États membres de l’UE d’être liés à la Déclaration de l’OIT de 1998. Pourtant, la situation économique et sociale actuelle au sein de l’Union européenne interroge sur la nécessité et la possibilité d’intégrer le concept de travail décent, qui révèle une approche particulière du travail, en droit de l’Union européenne. En effet, la réflexion sur un régime de travail réellement humain centrée sur les valeurs de justice sociale et de dignité humaine trouve tout son sens dans le contexte actuel de la gouvernance économique au sein de l’Union européenne et des mesures d’austérité envisageant le travail sous l’angle du marché et des échanges. La justice sociale dans le sens que lui a donné la Déclaration de Philadelphie de 1944 puis le concept de travail décent, c’est-à-dire celui de l’action, est aujourd’hui indispensable pour la protection des personnes et de l’environnement. La situation actuelle au sein de l’UE constitue donc un enjeu pour l’OIT dans sa capacité à imposer la traduction du concept de travail décent en droit social européen et pour l’UE elle-même. Le concept de travail décent propose des solutions pour l’action normative, il implique des exigences pour le législateur et le juge de l’UE. A l’instar de l’OIT, l’UE doit orienter son action normative vers le concept de travail décent pour renforcer la place des droits sociaux fondamentaux face aux libertés économiques. Cette nouvelle orientation nécessite alors pour l’UE de prendre appui sur les instruments de l’OIT, en particulier sur ses conventions et déclarations ainsi que sur la coopération technique prenant en compte ses spécificités. / The concept of decent work has been presented by the Director-General of the International Labour Office, in 1999, as an International Labour Organisation’s priority objective enabling every woman and man to exercise an activity in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity. This concept brings together four independent pillars that are employment, social protection, social dialogue, respecting, promoting and realizing the fundamental principles and rights at work. In a new way, the ILO imposes a framework of action for all Member States. Depending on the socio-economic conditions in each Member State, the concept of decent work is likely to be defined locally while having a universal outline. The translation of the concept is facilitated through Decent Work Country Programs (DWCPs) under ILO technical cooperation, and indicators measuring decent work. The concept of decent work therefore appears as an objectif of universal scope and not as a legal norm. If ILO’s technical cooperation facilitates the achievement of decent work, its normative action is also essential. Normative action must also be directed towards the concept of decent work, as reflected in the Maritime Labour Convention adopted, in 2006, by the International Labour Conference and in the Convention n° 189 concerning decent work for domestic workers adopted in 2011. The concept of decent work, seen as a political slogan to give visibility to the ILO, weakened by the contexte of globalization, was criticized for its minimalist nature and ignored within the European Union. The confrontation between the concept of decent work and the law of the European Union reveals a paradox between the increase in indecent living and working conditions in favor of a strengthening of labor market law and market law and the commitment of all EU member states to be linked to the ILO Declaration of 1998. Yet, the current economic and social situation in the European Union raises the question of the need and possibility of integrating the concept of decent work, which reveals a particular approach to work, in European Union law. Reflection on humane conditions of labour centered on the values of social justice and human dignity makes sense in the current context of economic governance in the European Union and the austerity measures considering the work from the perspective of the market and trade. Social justice in the sense given to it by the Declaration of Philadelphia of 1944 and then the concept of decent work, that is to say the principle of action, is today indispensable for the protection of people and the environment. The current situation in the EU is therefore an issue for the ILO in its own ability to impose the translation of the concept of decent work into European social law and for the EU itself. The concept of decent work proposes solutions for normative action and thus it implies requirements for the legislator and the judge of the EU. Like the ILO, the EU must direct its normative action towards the concept of decent work to strengthen the place of fundamental social rights in the face of economic freedoms. This new approach requires the EU to build on ILO’ instruments, in particular on its conventions and declarations and on technical cooperation taking into account its specificities.

This cumulative dissertation presents an environmental economic geography approach to the study of waste and recycling. Thereby, it introduces the notion of ‘waste economies’, which describes the conjunction of the production of waste with the societal handling as well as the valorisation of waste. Two distinct regional case studies serve to illustrate different aspects of waste economies. The first case investigates the valorisation of surplus manure from intensive livestock farming through biogas production in a highly industrialized rural region in north-western Germany – the example of manure and digestate in the Oldenburger Münsterland. The second case focuses on the recovery and revalorisation of wasted materials in the labour-intensive urban informal economy of a metropolitan area in eastern India – the example of informal plastic recycling networks in Kolkata. On a theoretical level, the conceptualization of waste economies is located at the intersection of environmental economic geography and the interdisciplinary field of waste studies. It draws on the global production networks approach, social metabolism and Marxist political economy to analyse waste as a form of ‘hybrid’ socio-nature. Following a qualitative research methodology, the analysis of the two cases depicts the close entanglement of economic and environmental processes in the production, societal handling and economic valorisation of waste, and reveals how this intersection is conducive for capital accumulation. Three different economic processes and dynamics serve as central analytical dimensions to delineate the characteristics of waste economies with regard to the expanded reproduction of capital accumulation, that is, the continued growth of capitalist economies: processes of externalisation as well as dynamics of expansion and intensification. Through the combined up-scaled analysis of two empirical cases on a higher level of theoretical abstraction, this dissertation offers a better understanding of the economic function of waste in growth-oriented capitalist economies. In this way, it contributes to the global recycling network and global destruction network approaches within economic geography and relates them to scholarly concerns about global environmental change.