This theme aims at exploring the evolution of employment and working conditions in European countries and beyond both from a long-term perspective and following the economic downturn in 2007+. On the one hand, we invite paper discussing the processes of segmentation and re-segmentation of labour markets, under the pressure of international competition, changing national-level regulations and management practices. On the other hand, we are interested in the discussion about the ‘future of work’, in the context of technological changes, new forms of labour market exclusion and new management techniques in new workplaces. What is the impact of precarisation of employment, on the one hand, and the digitisation of social life on work and industrial relations? What do the current trends mean to the employer-worker relations? How do they influence on collective representations of workers and employers? What is the impact on work and possibility of freedom of association?