Labour Review

What's New from the Information Centre

View the latest issue of Labour Review, Labor Council's
fortnightly newsletter for unions.

LABOUR REVIEW NO 17

Dial Tone: call centre workers

Bucking the Trend of Declining Unionisation: NSW Nurses

Trade Unions in Crisis

New Paths in Working-Time Policies in Europe

Working Families Working Futures 1999

Dial Tone: call centre workers

The call centre industry is growing at 25% per year. One quarter of all Optus staff are employed to take phone enquiries. The conditions of work of the people at the end of the line when we make those phone inquiries is often not good and an area of growing concern for unions. For example, a contract at one Melbourne telemarketing firm states that responding to a client 'in a negative manner at any time' is a dismissable offence.

Increased monitoring of employees, and increasing breakdown of jobs into the smallest measurable components are other features of these expanding workplaces. Pat Woods from the Victorian telecom branch of the CEPU, talks about how mistrustful workers have become and how there is no carrot sand stick any more, just the stick for workers. She talks also about trying to organise the workers with mixed success because of intimidation, insecurity and that some employees do hassle but often move on to better work as soon as they can so an initial organising burst can be lost.

(Eureka St, vol. 9, no.3, April 1999)

Union decline in Australia: the role of human resource management practices and the union-hostile workplace.

Stephen Deery and Janet Walsh examine the character and dimensions of union membership decline, using data generated through the 1995 AWIRS survey. Here economic and political explanations of membership loss are looked at, before the authors move to discussing the effects of union structure and employer hostility. Unlike US employers, in Australia where human resources management practices are put in place, a stable or expanding level of unionisation is usually the result.

Characteristics of hostile non-union workplaces included use of individual contracts, performance related pay, individualistic management philosophy, and were likely to be in the areas of wholesale and retail trade, property and business services and in the manufacturing sector. Other features likely to be seen in hostile non union workplaces include little formal consultative procedures (fewer meetings, no newsletters, fewer HRM people). Also were unlikely to have family friendly work practices, EEO or sexual harassment procedures. These hostile workplaces tended to be hospitality, cafes and restaurants.

(Australian Journal of Labour Law; vol. 12, no. 1, April 1999)

Bucking the Trend of Declining Unionisation: NSW Nurses

The NSW Nurses are continuing to grow and consolidate, in an era where overall unionisation rates in most industries are declining. This article shows that this is a fluke as they have put a lot of work into getting and retaining members, and being out there ready to take up issues for members. The union provides education programmes on legal issues for nurses, complementary therapies, self-assertiveness, budget management industrial law and nurse management. They have increased the concentration on servicing members varied needs. This is particularly the case in the private sector where more part time and casual work is the norm, so the Association has stepped up its campaigning and visiting in this less regulated area of nursing.

(Workplace Change, issue 37, March/April 1999)

Trade Unions in Crisis

This issue of Labour & Industry contains papers given at a conference held at the National Key Centre in Industrial Relations at Monash University in July 1998. Peter Gahan and Simon Bell look at various strategies and their impact on recruitment and retention. The data they use does not show that "traditional" strategies such as strikes and political action have become less effective, and also the data does nor show that the innovative service based strategies have been more effective. Rank and file support for either approach is the key factor.

The article by Griffin and Svensen looks at why people join unions in the first place and how different reasons for joining lead to differences in levels of satisfaction with the performance of unions.

Ray Fells looks at the trend for increasingly adversarial industrial relations in Australia, with much more workplace based negotiations and a move away from the award system. This provides a challenge for unions to gain entry to non unionised workplaces and establish themselves as good negotiators at the workplace level. Disputes will arise about union recognition. Fells looks at how British unions have faced this situation. He concludes with the view that the increased management union negotiation at the workplace and the task of gaining recognition highlighted the unions role and made it more visible to employees.

(Labour & Industry; vol. 9, no. 3, April 1999)

New Paths in Working-Time Policies in Europe

The Difficult Challenge of Reconciling Employers' and employees' need for flexibility/ Giuseppe Fajertag

Defines three possible models under which the various national patterns of reduction of working hours in Europe can be grouped - via collective agreement, legislation or negotiated individual flexibility. Collective agreement models are discussed with Dutch and German examples. Reduction in working time through legislation is discussed through the French example, while individual flexibility is associated with Scandinavian countries. Based on a paper given at the ACTU Work, Time, Life Conference in Melbourne, November 19-20, 1998)

(Labour & Industry; vol. 9, no. 3, April 1999)

Working Families Working Futures 1999

This is the third report on the NSW Government Work and family strategy. The state government sees government's role as being to encourage and enhance the capacity of parents with work responsibilities to meet the needs of their children. This report is organised on objective by objective basis with discussion and reporting of initiatives under each work and family objective. The objectives are:

� attitudinal and behavioural change;

� workplace reform,

� fairness and equity in employment

� equitable access to education and training systems

� flexible, responsive and accessible community services

� co-operation across public, private and community sectors

(NSW Work and Family Strategy: Working Families Working Futures/ Women's Equity Bureau, DIR, 1999)

  View entire issue - print all of the articles!

  Issue 14 contents

»	Call For IR Crisis Talks as Country Conference Looms
»	Workers Sacked for Body Hire
»	British Union Secures Free Net Access
»	Cab Charge Wars: SBS Workers Fight for Their Lives
»	State Wage Case Smooth - Except for Brack
»	FOI Loopholes Could Leave Public Servants Exposed
»	Drug Summit Misses Tokin� Gesture
»	Public Will Lose Again From Rail Sackings
»	Robin Hood Strikes Again
»	CPSU shows it cares�
»	Unions Take Action on Timor, Stolen Generation

»	Guest Report
»	Sport
»	Trades Hall
»	Piers Watch

»	Faction Calls Miss Point
»	Don't Ignore the Class Divide
»	Timor: Look at the Map!
»	Songs of the Revolution Feedback

Notice Board
- Check out the latest events

Latest Issue

View entire latest issue
- print all of the articles!

Previous Issues

Subject index

Search all issues

© 1999-2000 Labor Council of NSW

LaborNET is a resource for the labour movement provided by the Labor Council of NSW

[ Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Credits ]

LaborNET is proudly created, designed and programmed by Social Change Online for the Labor Council of NSW