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1 – 10 of 464Drawing on literature that examines trade union representation of “non‐standard” workers, this paper aims to analyse the attempts of the Association of University Teachers (AUT…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on literature that examines trade union representation of “non‐standard” workers, this paper aims to analyse the attempts of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) to integrate the interests of contract research staff (CRS) employed on fixed‐term contracts between 1974 and 2002. The paper examines the union campaign under five areas identified in the literature as important to the development of representation of non‐standard workers: trade union orientation to non‐standard workers; recruitment; participation; collective bargaining; extending representation beyond collective bargaining.
Design/methodology/approach
The main sources of data are drawn from analyses of union documentation, including internal memoranda and reports dating back to 1974, which chart the antecedents and progress of the AUT campaign against casualisation. This is supported by participant and non‐participant observation of 14 union meetings and events coupled with data from 20 semi‐structured interviews with a range of national officers and local activists conducted between 1999 and 2002.
Findings
The data support previous research that has identified changing union orientations to non‐standard workers. In the AUT, recruitment of CRS was propelled by instrumental needs to build and extend a declining membership base, but active participation of members employed on fixed‐term contracts has influenced union democracy and the collective bargaining agenda. However, the results, in terms of concrete gains in job security for CRS, have been limited.
Research limitations/implications
The paper examines a case study of one union in particular circumstances. Although the findings add to the general knowledge of union representation on non‐standard workers, the outcomes are specific to the case study union. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the effectiveness of the AUT campaign against casualisation whilst highlighting the implications for the development of conceptual and theoretical frameworks on the representation of “non‐standard” workers.
Originality/value
The paper provides unique and detailed historical data on one trade union's attempts to integrate the interests of academics employed on fixed‐term contracts into union structures originally designed to service one of the most secure sectors of the British workforce.
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Michael Wallace and Joonghyun Kwak
Using a sample of 214 US metropolitan areas, we examine the connection between the Great Recession and bad jobs, taking into consideration the macro-level determinants of the…
Abstract
Using a sample of 214 US metropolitan areas, we examine the connection between the Great Recession and bad jobs, taking into consideration the macro-level determinants of the troubled economy. Our measure of bad jobs is derived from Kalleberg, Reskin, and Hudson’s (2000) conceptualization as those that have low pay, lack health insurance, and lack pension plans. We find that the Great Recession increased the prevalence of bad jobs, consistently for men and selectively for women. Among the macro-level processes, the decline of the manufacturing base, union membership, and public sector employment are sources of increasing bad jobs, especially for men. Those macro-level processes which are growing in influence such as casualization, globalization and financialization show no signs of reversing the negative trends in bad jobs. Human capital variables in the labor market such as educational and age variability consistently suggest more adverse effects on bad jobs for men than women. Our findings contribute to the further understanding of the nature of precarious work in a troubled economy.
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The purpose of this paper is to use the notion of “casualisation” in an employment context to reflect on similar developments in England and Wales since 1996 which have combined…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use the notion of “casualisation” in an employment context to reflect on similar developments in England and Wales since 1996 which have combined to undermine security of tenure in the private and social rented sectors and exposed the vulnerability of owner occupiers who default on mortgage repayments.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on observations made by commentators in housing and social policy as well as official papers, statutes and cases.
Findings
The problems posed for the long‐term security of residential occupiers are highlighted and are shown to result from a combination of factors including the deregulation of the private rented sector, the dependency of housing association on their rental streams, governmental preoccupation with anti‐social behaviour in social housing and the principle that mortgage lenders have the right to possession of the mortgaged property.
Originality/value
The notion of casualisation is used as an analytical tool to assess changes in law and policy, and to suggest possibilities for reform.
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Jayde Cahir, Margot McNeill, Agnes Bosanquet and Christa Jacenyik-Trawöger
Many universities are in the process of changing their learning management systems to Moodle yet there is limited empirical research available on the impact of this change. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Many universities are in the process of changing their learning management systems to Moodle yet there is limited empirical research available on the impact of this change. The purpose of this paper is to explore the results of an initial pilot, which was conducted as the first stage of implementing Moodle at an Australian university.
Design/methodology/approach
The pilot study involved an online survey and a focus group with unit convenors teaching Open University Australia (OUA) units in Moodle.
Findings
The aim was to essentially test Moodle and eliminate any technological issues prior to the university-wide roll-out the following year. It was envisaged that this pilot would contribute to building capability and knowledge amongst staff members; however, it was unanticipated that this would be jeopardised by a wider and ongoing issue in higher education; namely, the casualisation of the academic workforce. The paper maps the accumulated knowledge of these unit convenors and how this knowledge is “walking out the door”.
Originality/value
The paper argues that an environment of insecure employment is a barrier to change management.
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Jonatan Leer and Camilla Hoff-Jørgensen
This article explores consumers' attitudes to the trend of gourmet burgers, notably the gourmet burgers' combination of highbrow food (gourmet) and lowbrow food (fast food). The…
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores consumers' attitudes to the trend of gourmet burgers, notably the gourmet burgers' combination of highbrow food (gourmet) and lowbrow food (fast food). The authors use the case of the NOMA cheeseburger from the iconic New Nordic restaurant NOMA.
Design/methodology/approach
The data set consists of interviews (n = 20) with urban Danish consumers attending the NOMA burger pop-up.
Findings
The analysis highlights an acceptance among informants of “gourmetfied” burgers. This signals a change in the culinary status of burgers in Danish food culture. The authors also discovered some ambivalence in relation to the highbrow-lowbrow negotiations: while all informants celebrate the casualization of NOMA during the burger pop-up, half of the informants found the burger underwhelming: it did not live up to the edginess of the NOMA brand.
Practical implications
The authors believe this research can inform people working with culinary highbrow-lowbrow mix in their food designs, notably in relation to developing and matching the relation between symbolic and material aspects of the food design.
Originality/value
The authors argue that the concept of transgression can help us theorize how consumers accept, refuse, and negotiate boundaries in relation to gourmet burgers, and more generally between food consumption mixing highbrow and lowbrow elements. More particularly, the authors propose to distinguish between symbolic, social, and material transgressions. This perspective might also be interesting for practitioners in the field.
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Reshmi Lahiri-Roy and Ben Whitburn
This paper emerged from the challenges encountered by both authors as academics during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Based on their subsequent reflections on inclusion in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper emerged from the challenges encountered by both authors as academics during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Based on their subsequent reflections on inclusion in education for minoritised academics in pandemic-affected institutional contexts, they argue that beyond student-centred foci for inclusion, equity in the field, is equally significant for diverse teachers. Working as tempered radicals, they contend that anything less is exclusionary.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a reciprocal interview method and drawing on Freirean ideals of dialogue and education as freedom from oppression, the authors offer dual perspectives from specific positionings as a non-tenured woman academic of colour and a tenured staff member with a disability.
Findings
In framing this work dialogically and through Freirean ideals of conscientização, the authors' collective discussions politicise personal experiences of marginalisation in the teaching and researching of inclusion in education for preservice teachers, or more pointedly, in demonstrating the responsibility of all to orientate towards context-dependent inclusive practices. They assert that to enable educators to develop inclusion-oriented practice, the contextual frameworks need to ensure that they question their own experiences of inclusion as potentially precarious to enable meaningful teaching practice.
Research limitations/implications
It offers perspectives drawing on race, dis/ability and gender drawing on two voices. The bivocal perspective is in itself limitation. It is also located within a very Australian context. However, it does have the scope to be applied globally and there is opportunity to further develop the argument using more intersectional variables.
Practical implications
The paper clearly highlights that universities require a sharper understanding of diversity, and minoritised staff's quotidian negotiations of marginalisations. Concomitantly inclusion and valuing of the epistemologies of minoritised groups facilitate meaningful participation of these groups in higher education contexts.
Social implications
This article calls for a more nuanced, empathetic and critical understanding of issues related to race and disability within Australian and global academe. This is much required given rapidly shifting demographics within Australian and other higher education contexts, as well as the global migration trajectories.
Originality/value
This is an original research submission which contributes to debates around race and disability in HE. It has the potential to provoke further conversations and incorporates both hope and realism while stressing collaboration within the academic ecosystem to build metaphorical spaces of inclusion for the minoritised.
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Srinath Jagannathan and Patturaja Selvaraj
This paper aims to explore narratives of insecurity to understand how the casualisation of the employment relationship makes life more fragile and precarious. The authors engage…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore narratives of insecurity to understand how the casualisation of the employment relationship makes life more fragile and precarious. The authors engage in an inquiry about how multinational enterprises (MNEs) structure precariousness for workers in emerging economies. The authors attempt to understand how workers analyse their experiences of precariousness and what form their resistance takes as a result of their analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors engage with the narratives of eight Indian workers/trade union activists working in different marginal spaces of the Indian economy to uncover a commons where we are the multitude. By commons, the authors imply shared forms of property, which stand against the concept of private property that is central to the social relations of capitalism. The authors are performing the data of workers by interspersing them in an analysis of angst and hope.
Findings
Workers understand their experiences of precariousness as emerging from a complex political economy structured by MNEs, which involves multiple fronts of marginalisation. Workers realize that they need to engage in comprehensive forms of resistance to undo the regimes of precariousness. Workers create shared universes of grief to relate to each other’s experiences of precariousness. The unfreedoms experienced by workers lead to a sharing of the social relations of commons where workers can resist by expressing solidarity with each other.
Practical implications
The authors contribute to practice by arguing that workers’ collectives should not accept the naturalisation of precariousness. By staging a dialogue about the injuries of precariousness, they can craft a politics of resistance that begins the process of commoning.
Social implications
Workers’ politics of resistance can significantly democratise the global political economy in important ways by advancing the potential for commons.
Originality/value
The authors make an original contribution to the study of precariousness in the context of international business by arguing that the experience of precariousness can lead to a commons where workers resist structures of injustice.
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David Williamson and Candice Harris
The purpose of this paper is to examine the Hotel Workers Union and its impact on talent management in the New Zealand hospitality sector using the corporatist framework drawing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the Hotel Workers Union and its impact on talent management in the New Zealand hospitality sector using the corporatist framework drawing primarily on the works of Schmitter (1979) to construct a critical, historical employment relations approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this paper were gathered as part of a history of employment relations in the New Zealand hotel sector from 1955 to 2000. The main methods were, namely, semi-structured interviews and archival research.
Findings
This study found a historical employment environment of multiple actors in the employment relationship, with hotel unions playing a more complex and nuanced role to influence talent management in the New Zealand hotel sector. The paper suggests that neither the hotel union nor employers effectively addressed talent management challenges in this sector.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes detailed empirical knowledge about historical relationships between hotel unions and talent management issues in New Zealand.
Originality/value
The paper argues that applying a corporatist perspective to the history of the Hotel Workers Union and the issues of talent management that result from that history provides a unique and insightful contribution to the field
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Parker of, Melford Stevenson J. and J. Cooke
July 9, 1969 Docks — “De‐casualisation scheme” — Timber loaded on lorries after storage in dock area on removal from ship — Piling of timber at importer's yard “in vicinity of”…
Abstract
July 9, 1969 Docks — “De‐casualisation scheme” — Timber loaded on lorries after storage in dock area on removal from ship — Piling of timber at importer's yard “in vicinity of” Cardiff dock estates — Whether “Dock Work” — Whether yard outside dock estates — “Cargo” — Meaning — Whether “goods still identifiable as something carried within a ship” — Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1946 (9 & 10 Geo.VI, c. 22), s.6 — Docks and Harbours Act, 1966 (c.28), ss. 51 (3), 58 — Dock Workers (Regulation of EmpIoyment)(Amendment) Order, 1967 (S.I. 1967, No. 1252), Sch. 2 cl. 1(3) proviso, 2, App. I, M(2).
Karl von Holdt and Edward Webster
Is labour's decline permanent, or is it merely a temporary weakening, as Beverley Silver suggests in her recent book, as the labour movement is unmade and remade in different…
Abstract
Purpose
Is labour's decline permanent, or is it merely a temporary weakening, as Beverley Silver suggests in her recent book, as the labour movement is unmade and remade in different locations and at different times? The article aims to examine this question in South Africa, one of the newly industrialised countries of the 1960s and 1970s, now largely bypassed by new manufacturing investment destined for countries such as India and China.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper concentrates, through six case studies, on the growing non‐core and peripheral zones of work and examines the impact of the restructuring on labour.
Findings
The evidence presented is ambiguous. While there have been significant innovative union organising experiments, it may be that the structural weakening of labour has been too great and that the new sources of power are too limited, to permit effective reorientation.
Practical implications
It is concluded that significant progress will only be made if there is a concerted effort to commit resources and above all to develop new associational strategies that recognise the potential for symbolic power as an alternative to the erosion of structural power of workers and the unions that represent them. Unless such a shift is made the crisis of labour movements internationally may be better understood as a permanent crisis than the temporary one Silver suggests.
Originality/value
The paper identities the potential for new strategies to develop and sustain associational and symbolic power that might compensate for weakened structural power and facilitate a remaking of the labour movement under new conditions.
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