{"title":"From Terranova to Terra Firma: A Critique of the Role of Free Labour and the Digital Economy","authors":"Diane van den Broek","doi":"10.1177/103530461002000209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/103530461002000209","url":null,"abstract":"On-going class action against America Online's use of ‘free labour’ has divided opinion about the management of ‘digital’ labour in the ‘new’ economy. Web-based systems of collaboration between and within firms and their customers, as well as customer engagement in product innovation, have underscored claims about the evaporation of traditional labour markets and labour processes as well as about (weakening) divisions between production and consumption. This has led to (exaggerated) debates about the contribution of ‘free’ or ‘immaterial’ labour to contemporary economies. This paper argues that while significant restructuring has changed traditional organisational forms, capital markets remain centralised and digital labour remains as regulated as other labour. As such, while labour cannot be fully commodified, digital labour is neither free or immaterial, because it is not the content of labour itself, but rather its relationship with capital that gives it ‘weight’ and value.","PeriodicalId":51718,"journal":{"name":"Economic and Labour Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2010-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/103530461002000209","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65853459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Trade Unionism in Australia: A History from Flood to Ebb Tide","authors":"A. Barnes","doi":"10.1177/103530460902000111","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/103530460902000111","url":null,"abstract":"Review(s) of: Trade Unionism in Australia: A History from Flood to Ebb Tide, by Tom Bramble (2008), Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne. xv + 293 pp., Paperback, RRP $49.95.","PeriodicalId":51718,"journal":{"name":"Economic and Labour Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2009-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/103530460902000111","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65853452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Gender and the Contours of Precarious Employment","authors":"Anne Junor","doi":"10.1177/103530460902000112","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/103530460902000112","url":null,"abstract":"For both its empirical and its theoretical content, this book is an essential addition to the libraries of scholars of gender, of work/life balance, and of what the editors prefer to call ‘precariousness in employment’ (p. 1). Originating in workshop contributions to the Comparative Perspectives component of the Toronto-based Gender and Work Database (www.genderwork.ca), the book consists of eleven country case study chapters, followed by four chapters providing multidisciplinary theorisations of some spatial, longitudinal and sectoral dimensions of gendered work insecurity. In the introductory conceptual chapter (pp. 1–25), the editors define the book’s coordinating theme as the relationship between precariousness and the security provided by the standard employment relationship (SER). Both security and its absence are ‘ ... established through a diffuse set of institutional constraints, comprising systems such as labour law and policy, social security, family policy, taxation and employment policy’ (p. 10). The editors argue that precariousness extends beyond job tenure and income to include limited social benefits and entitlements, and high risks of ill-health (p. 2). It has at least four facets: Temporal (limited duration or high termination risk); • Social (lack of rights and protections through industrial instruments, leg• islation, or custom and practice); Economic (income close to the poverty line; limited social security access); • and Work-organisational/industrial (lack of control over working conditions, • work intensity and wages).","PeriodicalId":51718,"journal":{"name":"Economic and Labour Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2009-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/103530460902000112","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65853456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Retirement Provision in Scary Markets","authors":"S. Purcal","doi":"10.1177/103530460902000110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/103530460902000110","url":null,"abstract":"Review(s) of: Retirement Provision in Scary Markets, by Hazel Bateman (ed.) (2007), Elgar, vii + 224 pp., Hardback, RRP $104.70. Includes references. Includes endnotes.","PeriodicalId":51718,"journal":{"name":"Economic and Labour Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2009-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/103530460902000110","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65853449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review Article","authors":"David Morgan","doi":"10.1177/103530460902000109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/103530460902000109","url":null,"abstract":"The images of technology abound — from i-gadgets, to office technology, to factory robots, and new architectural designs appearing in industrial and developing countries around the world. Its impact on organisations is reviewed in New Technology @ Work which covers a wide range of literature. The book primarily centres on the effects of computer-based technologies, or broadly ICTs, for organisations and work (p. xi) in several industries and countries. The authors discuss the organisational, political, and institutional features of changes in technology over the last couple of decades, rather than providing an analysis of the nature of technology/ies, or a more detailed examination of work. Indeed, the central theme is the contingent effects on technology in organisations of local and wider political contestation, institutional forms and state policy. The book’s main contribution lies in a broad review of a range of debates and in its assembling of what the writers term a ‘political materialist’ perspective, in examining technology at work. The book’s nine chapters fall into three general categories — theoretical approaches and frameworks (chs 1–2); studies of technologies in specific industries, covering manufacturing, call centres, white collar work, management, professions, and distributed work (chs 3–6); and an analysis of the institutional context and conclusion (chs 7–9). Accordingly, the theoretical framing of the book is located at two levels — the organisational, and the institutional. The first parts of the book primarily focus on organisational features and the latter part on the institutional context. However, the institutional context is never far from the discussion throughout. The authors initially review a sweeping array of literature on technology, spanning more than fifty years, and identify four broad types of theoretical approaches. Using a two dimensional matrix (based on the axes of ‘variables addressed’, and ‘theoretical focus’, see Fig 2.1, p. 15) they usefully cluster many theoretical perspectives into the resulting four types — viz., technological determinist; management of technology (MOT); political materialist, and; social constructivist. The authors seek to develop a ‘political materialist’ theoretical framework — built from its roots in labour process theory, and augmented by ‘recognising the importance of processes of social construction that shape the impact and experience of technology at the organizational level’ (p. 40). As noted, the organisation level is strongly complemented by the consideration of","PeriodicalId":51718,"journal":{"name":"Economic and Labour Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2009-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/103530460902000109","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65853445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Farewell to Tax Neutrality: The Implications for an Aging Population","authors":"S. St. John","doi":"10.1177/103530460701800103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/103530460701800103","url":null,"abstract":"In the light of the financial consequences of longevity, the potential for widening living standards as the population ages, and the perception of an increased burden by the working age population, recent policy changes in New Zealand appear far from ideal. For nearly twenty years, the retirement system has comprised just a universal state pension, called New Zealand Superannuation, and voluntary unsubsidised private saving. The decision in the late 1980s to promote tax neutrality for saving was critical to attaining a cost-effective, adequate, equitable and sustainable retirement income for all in an uncertain future. Nevertheless, a level playing field was only partially achieved and by the early 2000s, large imbalances in the economy were apparent. Strident calls to promote saving gradually undermined the accord around tax neutrality for retirement saving leading in 2007 to the re-introduction of tax incentives for certain types of saving, and other types of state intervention in private provision. This paper examines how the twenty year experiment with tax neutrality is coming to an end and the implications this has for the support of an aging population experiencing increased longevity.","PeriodicalId":51718,"journal":{"name":"Economic and Labour Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2007-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/103530460701800103","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65853390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Organisational Learning: How Organising Changes Education in Trade Unions","authors":"T. Brown","doi":"10.1177/103530460701700210","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/103530460701700210","url":null,"abstract":"Australian trade unions in the 1980s and 1990s sought to influence and guide the restructuring of vocational and workplace education policy, to widen participation in education and training, and establish partnership arrangements with government and business in order to promote international competitiveness. Since the mid 1990s, however, the changed contours of the labour market, and a steady decline in both the numbers of union members and density rates, accompanied by legislative attacks on the right to organise, led many unions to shift their emphasis to organising new members. Education was identified as a critical factor in preparing unions to undertake this new effort and as a means of changing union culture. This article studies the changes in union education that flowed from one union's new concentration on developing capacity for organising for growth, and examines the new ways of knowing that resulted among officers and activists.","PeriodicalId":51718,"journal":{"name":"Economic and Labour Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2007-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/103530460701700210","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65853386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Australian Workplace Agreements under Work Choices","authors":"Kristin van Barneveld","doi":"10.1177/103530460601600208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/103530460601600208","url":null,"abstract":"This paper details how AWAs are made under the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005. The Work Choices amendments introduce significant changes to agreement-making. The most significant of these changes are the abolition of the no-disadvantage test, the effect of termination of agreements, and the new ‘safety net’ provided by the Fair Pay and Conditions Standard. Employers have welcomed these changes as a step closer to a system of common law regulation of the employment relationship. However, for employees, the simplification of the approval process and the removal of the vetting of Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), may expose them to AWAs which contain low wages and very limited conditions of employment. How far down this path some employers will attempt to go is yet unknown but it is clear that for some AWA employees, there will be considerable detriment to their working conditions and entitlements.","PeriodicalId":51718,"journal":{"name":"Economic and Labour Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2006-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/103530460601600208","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65853382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Retirement Incomes in New Zealand","authors":"S. St. John","doi":"10.1177/103530460501500205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/103530460501500205","url":null,"abstract":"New Zealand has a unique approach to retirement income provision. The state pension arrangements have the advantage of being very simple and easy to understand and administer. While there are numerous issues associated with the ageing of the population that may require modification to the parameters of state provision in the future, there is little political disagreement about the basic design of the state pension. In ensuring universal coverage with a flat rate taxable pension for everyone without the need for a contributions record, New Zealand has prevented elderly poverty to date. Supplementary private provision has been unsubsidised and recent debate has focused on the need to encourage more private saving particularly through work-based schemes. Nevertheless there are numerous advantages to New Zealand's tax neutral approach, which may offer lessons to reformers in other countries. With some caveats, New Zealand appears well placed to weather the increased expenditures associated with the retirement of the baby boomers.","PeriodicalId":51718,"journal":{"name":"Economic and Labour Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2005-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/103530460501500205","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65853378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Employment Relations in the Korean Automotive Industry: Issues and Policy Implications","authors":"Park Young-Bum, Lee Byoung-Hoon, Woo Seog-Hun","doi":"10.1177/103530469700800204","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/103530469700800204","url":null,"abstract":"Since the late 1980s there have been significant problems in the Korean auto industry related to employment relations. This paper focusses on the experience of three companies: Hyundai, Daewoo and Kia, which have pursued somewhat different strategies in industrial relations and human resource management. Hyundai, which is the largest auto producer, has experienced major labour disputes almost every year since 1987, but has reached an accommodation with its union in the past couple of years. Daewoo and Kia have both faced militant union leadership since the early 1990s. Kia's management was rather indecisive, but Daewoo was more decisive and industrial relations appear to have stabilised. However, major industrial conflicts at the end of 1996, following the government's attempt to reform labour laws, and the formation of a new independent peak union council, indicate that industrial relations in the Korean auto industry are likely to remain unsettled for some time.","PeriodicalId":51718,"journal":{"name":"Economic and Labour Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"1997-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/103530469700800204","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65853480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}