Contemporary research on work, workplaces and industrial relations in Australia

Industrial relations (IR) and work-related debates are rarely out of the news in Australia. There have been calls by the Productivity Commission for increasing the retirement age, and business lobbies are requesting the abolition of penalty rates, the amendment of unfair dismissal legislation and a reduction in the minimum wage rate (Heath and Greber, 2013; McDonald, 2013). Despite IR not figuring in the recent federal elections, and the coalition claiming that it would not be introducing any significant changes to workplace legislation (apart from its improved national paid parental leave scheme), there has already been a chorus of calls for the government to take the opportunity to deregulate the labour market (Frydenberg, 2013).

Alongside the political dimension of IR, there is a challenge for academics and practitioners in accommodating innovations at work, workplaces and in working life. Technology has spawned new forms of work such as telecommuting, homework and mobile work (Commonwealth of Australia, 2006). The workplace has been transformed as contact centres allow the bundling, outsourcing and offshoring of services delivery, and the expansion in the resources sector has seen the growth in ‘fly in fly out’ (FIFO), and temporary migrant visa arrangements to fill skill shortages and move labour into remote regions (Hoath and McKenzie, 2013; Velayutham, 2013). Against this background of extensive change to work and to workplaces, traditional IR issues remain pertinent. These include forms of voice and collective representation in a context of declining trade union density (Wilkinson et al., 2013), the efficiency and effectiveness of enterprise bargaining to accommodate workplace change in a fair and equitable manner (Townsend et al., 2013), new forms of precariousness in the workforce (Wilson and Ebert, 2013) and the rigidity of the gender pay gap despite the growing female workforce share (Wade, 2013).

The articles in this symposium are based on papers from the 27th Conference of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ), held in Perth, Western Australia, in February 2013. Over 120 delegates from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and France attended the conference. The selection of papers presented here captures the diversity of the research being carried out on work, workplaces and IR. It also captures the diversity of research approaches, from document analysis through to interviews and surveys. Also represented is the spectrum from the local (Western Australia) through to the national and the international. The collection, like the conference, incorporates traditional IR concerns around arbitration, trade union strategy and workplace health and safety, through to green jobs, the work of professional artists and human resource management (HRM) strategies for agency workers in the hospitality sector.

The first article in this special issue, by Stroud, Fairbrother, Evans and Blake, addresses the issue of how to accommodate the regeneration of declining regions and at the same time move towards a green economy. Across many regions, there are rust belt cities that in the past were the centre of global and national manufacturing activities (Detroit in the United States; Middlesborough in the United Kingdom), and today, they are in a state of economic and regional decay with high rates of unemployment and declining infrastructure. The article addresses the issue of regeneration but within the context of a low carbon economy that generates not only sustainable industries but also sustainable and good quality jobs. Through international comparative case study analysis, the article examines the regeneration of three traditional coal mining regions: the Ruhr Valley of Germany, the South Wales Valleys of the United Kingdom and the Appalachias in the United States. Reflecting the varieties of capitalism analytical framework, context and the institutions supporting restructuring are important elements in the analysis. Through a contrasting case study approach, the authors demonstrate the critical role of the state in supporting and managing an effective transition towards a green economy for old industrial regions. For the transition to be effective, there is a need for green jobs to be created, but also for the skills that support such jobs and quality employment. There is a need not only for state-supported programmes of job generation and training programmes, but again, this article too highlights the importance of consultative mechanisms between the key social partners to manage the transition process.

The restructuring of the public sector (downsizing), new public sector management practices and privatisation are on the agendas of the federal and state governments. Oliver investigates the contentious issue of privatisation in Western Australia and its impact on apprenticeship training, trade unions and political labour. Through her analysis of examples of privatisations in Western Australia, she demonstrates how the process contributed to the decline in apprenticeships and training that were provided by public institutions and how the privatisations also undermined trade union membership. They also undermined the political position of the Labor Party, since in many cases, the privatisations were instituted by the Australian Labour Party when in government. Oliver argues that privatisation in many cases did not generate the community benefits that were promised, such as improved services and lower delivery costs: the examples cited suggest that both economic and political costs were incurred.

The article by Baird and Murray investigates the extent to which agreement making in Australia 2005–2010 incorporated paid maternity and parental leave. A national paid parental leave scheme was announced in 2009, and this article analyses the extent to which there had been a national shift towards such schemes prior to the introduction of the national policy. Using content analysis of agreements, the research assesses the trends in bargaining around maternity and parental leave, details and distribution of such agreements across sectors, and the duration of the leave arrangements. The analysis finds an increase in the number of agreements that included paid parental and maternity leave clauses and a slight increase in the duration of the paid leave arrangements. However, these changes were largely confined to the public sector, with very little change being recorded for the private sector. Despite growing public awareness of, and support for, such leave arrangements, the bargaining framework was successful in supporting improvements only in the government sector. The authors conclude that, in the absence of a funded national programme, it is unlikely that the bargaining framework could deliver any significant increase in the number of agreements incorporating these schemes in the private sector.

Burchielli, Delayney and Goren analyse the extent to which the garment homework sector in Argentina involves precarious employment conditions. The homework garment sector internationally is characterised by exploitation and low pay, and by informal and unregulated employment conditions. The work is often performed by women and migrants who are seeking to supplement meagre family incomes. International attention from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has been focused on the garment sector, with global supply chains dependent on tapping into sources of low paid and unregulated labour at the bottom of the chains. Using five dimensions of precariousness analytical framework and a mixed-methods research approach, the article demonstrates that the existence of protective legislation in Argentina is not enough to ensure that the majority of home-based workers receive protection. Workers receive very low rates of pay and have insecure employment arrangements, and voice and collective representation are minimal. Risks and costs are being shifted down the supply chain to home workers, and state regulation of the garment sector, especially around home working, is absent. Not surprisingly, global supply chains in the garment industry place these invisible workers in a vulnerable position.

Using a comparative case study approach, Knox investigates the foundations of the HRM approach behind the deployment of agency workers in the hospitality industry. Numerically, and in terms of industry coverage, agency work has grown in Australia and across the world over the past two decades. This development is usually assumed to be linked to cost-cutting strategies. The replacement of permanent and in-house staff by casual and outsourced workers has been seen as linked to work intensification, standardisation of service delivery and the extension of control and monitoring techniques. Knox et al., however, identify an alternative value-adding HRM strategy that involves training and development, career path progression and high degrees of autonomy. The research contrasts two case study organisations using these differing HRM approaches. The cost minimisation approach was associated with high workloads, workplace injuries, fatigue and poor performance outcomes. This resulted in high employee turnover and low client satisfaction with service quality. By contrast, under the value-adding HRM approach, employees were more satisfied with their jobs, turnover rates were lower and client satisfaction with service delivery was higher. The clear implication was that the HRM strategies of agencies, and the way they saw their relationship with their workers, had an important impact on employee job satisfaction and commitment, and on service quality. The article suggests a way forward for agencies in retaining workers, enhancing commitment and improving service delivery.

McKay presents a thoughtful article on the visual arts in Western Australia. This sector is outside the formal IR arena since workers are self-employed, and are multiple job holders, reliant on other jobs to support their art practice, and dealing with a range of intermediaries including galleries, agents and art funding organisations. Systematic data on the sector are limited, employment conditions are precarious and income levels are very low. Using a social production conceptual approach and in-depth interviews with a range of professional artists, the author investigates the working life of art practitioners, how they see their work and the values they attempt to promote through it. Through an identification of the multiple systems of value that impact professional practice, McKay highlights the complexity of working in art: the artist has to negotiate several value systems such as economics, aesthetics and status/recognition.

Leggett and Stewart provide an historical overview and analysis of the development of the IR system of Singapore and in the process provide an important contribution to comparative labour law. They discuss how the arbitration system in Australia became the basis for the development of a similar model in Singapore. In particular, they highlight the contribution of Charles Gamba as an early participant in the development of the system in Singapore. As with Australia, the introduction of arbitration in the early years of independence (1960) was seen as a means of regulating and controlling industrial disputation. The article considers the subsequent modifications to the system and the resulting erosion of the independence and authority of the system. Central to the article is a consideration of the transfer of institutions across countries and how local politics and conditions subsequently modify these institutions. The volume demonstrates that there is a vibrant and diverse IR research programme in place in Australia.