"No!" to student sole proprietorships

The action addresses the issue of introducing student sole proprietorships, as envisaged by the government’s emergency legislation. Our main objective is to provide students with credible and accessible information about the consequences of introducing student sole proprietorships and to familiarise them with the existing forms of student work and their rights. The action is based on concern that the new arrangement would further increase the precarity of young people and weaken the safeguards currently provided by work through the student referral system.
The target group of the action is students throughout Slovenia. We will reach them through an information campaign on social media, by organising a round table, and through direct fieldwork at student events and on campuses.

The action focuses on the part of the intervention law adopted by the current government that introduces a special form of sole proprietorship for students (“student s.p.”). Civil society organisations aim to challenge this measure through a referendum and have already successfully collected more than 2,500 signatures, which is a prerequisite for submitting an initiative to call a referendum.

The government decided that the intervention law could not be subject to a referendum, which forced civil society organisations to submit the entire proposal for constitutional review.

Through our project, we aim to provide students with all the key information about both the “student s.p.” scheme as envisaged by the current government and student work performed through student work referrals. The project also contextualises the “student s.p.” within the existing student work system and, instead of introducing this new scheme, seeks to highlight the need to improve students’ material conditions and reform scholarship policy.

Young people will gain a better understanding of the differences between working through a student work referral and working as a sole proprietor (s.p.), and will recognise the issue of precarious forms of work among young people. To this end, 2 videos will be produced, reaching between 20,000 and 40,000 views. The results will be demonstrated through an analysis of likes, shares, and other statistical indicators provided by social media platforms, as well as an analysis of opinions expressed in comments under the posts, etc. In addition, 4 infographics will be produced, generating between 1,000 and 1,200 reactions. Their reach will be documented through an analysis of likes, comments, shares, etc.

Public debate on the future of student work will be encouraged, along with advocacy for fairer working conditions for young people. A round-table discussion will be organised and attended by between 25 and 50 students. Evidence will include a link to a recording on a streaming platform, with the video reaching at least 100 views. The results will also be documented through participant statements, analytics on engagement with the published recording, and a short reflection questionnaire for participants in the round-table discussion.

Students will be informed about existing forms of student work and their rights, as well as the consequences of introducing the “student s.p.” scheme, thereby encouraging critical thinking about fair working conditions for students and young people. At least 15 information stands will be organised on student campuses or at events. Of these 15 stands, at least 5 will take place outside Ljubljana in other university centres. Implementation will be documented through a list of organised stands, photographs of the activities, and feedback from visitors – the target group. At the stands, responses and feedback from the students approached will be collected in the form of written statements based on conversations.