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Outsourcing

Economic and Labour Relations Review presents a symposium on outsourcing.

John Benson reviews existing research and evaluates the effects of outsourcing on firm performance and employee commitment, based on four manufacturing companies.

Mark Wooden examines the extent of outsourcing using data from the 1990 and 1995 AWIRS studies. Outsourcing has spread across all industries, rather than simply expanding in areas where it has historically been commonplace.

John Burgess and Duncan McDonald look at public sector outsourcing and its impact on industrial relations in the public sector. There is strong evidence to suggest that it has contributed to the worsening of employment conditions and the reduction of wages.

Kuru Pancharatnam critiques the theory of contestable markets, the notion that is used to give intellectual legitimacy to competitive tendering and contracting out.

Else Underhill gets down to tin-tacks and looks at the 1997 strike by labour hire workers in the manufacturing maintenance sector in Victoria, which lasted for seven weeks. Unions have maintained membership levels and collective agreements in this sector.

(Economic and Labour Relations Review; vol. 10, no. 1, June 1999)

The Contours of Restructuring and Downsizing in Australia

Peter Dawkins, Craig Littler, Ma. Rebecca Valenzuela and Ben Jensen present a report commissioned by the Myer Foundation

� on the extent of downsizing

� the motivations of businesses who undertake downsizing

� do they really achieve their stated objectives

� the effect on the well-being of employees who remain

� effect on the labour market prospects of those who leave

� effect on the general community within which firms operate

(Published by the Melbourne Institute of Economic and Social Research, 1999)

Coles and Casuals: not a bargain for anyone

Coles has embarked a programme to achieve a more permanent workforce. Coles say that a number of factors, not the least of which is the very significant staff turnover costs that come with hiring and training casuals, has lead to the strategy. Joe de Bruyn, from the SDA, puts the turnover/recruitment cost at about $2,000.oo on each occasion. "So if you can reduce your turnover by 5,000 people a year that's a saving of $10million to the business".

(Workplace Change; issue no. 40, July 1999)

Pregnant and Productive

The Report of the National Pregnancy and Work Inquiry has been released and demonstrates the need for pregnancy issues to be examined in further detail.

A major recommendation is that women should be able to seek punitive damages from employers for unlawful discrimination. Other recommendations and findings include

� pregnancy provisions of Australian Workplace Agreements should be placed under public scrutiny

� the relevant federal government departments should provide parties with information about anti-discrimination laws

� these bodies lack the expertise to assess deals with discriminatory consequences

� male dominated bargaining groups bargain away measures which benefit women

� unpaid maternity leave should be extended to casual workers employed for more than 12 months

� discrimination measures should be extended to cover breast feeding

� award simplification has removed OHS pregnancy protections from allowable matters

� part-timers and casuals are especially vulnerable under flexibility provisions such as spread of hours

� education of all on pregnancy bias is essential

� good policy does not necessarily mean good practice by employers

Full report is available at http://www.hreoc.gov.au/sex_discimination/workplace/s7_3_7.html

(Discrimination Alert; issue 94, August 31 1999)

Long Service Leave Flexibility

A discussion paper on more flexible approaches to granting and taking long service leave, prepared by the Dept of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business and the W.A. Dept of Productivity and Labour Relations, has been released by the Workplace relations Ministers' Council.

Only about one quarter of all employees actually stay in a job long enough to qualify.

Suggestions for greater flexibility include

� cashing out leave, either when employees become eligible or by paying a part of the leave as remuneration on an ongoing basis (perhaps after a qualifying period)

� allowing parties to negotiate the timing, method and form in which leave is taken (backed by a regulatory structure)

� combinations of taking part of the leave and cashing out the rest

� work and family provisions to be included.

(Managing Leave and Holidays Update; newsletter 63, 20 August 1999; http://www.dewrsb.gov.au> and http://www.doplar.wa.gov.au

IR Academia Online

The Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) has a useful web site for those in search of scholarly analyses of industrial relations developments in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region. The annual conference papers are available at this site and can be printed in PDF format (button for PDF helpfully provided. No search button but abstracts of papers are provided and its easy to scroll through. There is also an unmoderated discussion group on Pacific region IR issues.

http://www.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/depts/sml/airaanz/airaanz.htm

  Got a good paper? Contact our librarian Neal Towart

  View entire issue - print all of the articles!

  Issue 30 contents

»	Ramos Horta Calls for Workers� Support
»	Sydney Unionists Forced to Leave Dili
»	TWU Questions Timor Action
»	SOCOG Called to Cancel Indonesian Contracts
»	Union Busters To Go Cyber
»	Not-So Aussie Post for Sydney 2000
»	Horror Tales - the Nights of the Living Dead
»	Asbestos Sufferer Bequests $30,000 To Union
»	Woodlawn Workers Edge Towards Justice
»	Telstra Shareholders Asked to Block Union-Busters
»	Reith Letter to be Revealed in Conspiracy Case
»	Shock: Tele Thumbs Up For New Years Eve Holiday
»	Tales From the Picket Line

»	Guest Report
»	Sport
»	Trades Hall
»	Piers Watch

»	League's Working Class Takeover
»	Proverb for the Cyber Age
»	Postcard from the Emu
»	Mind Your Language
»	The Other Young Speaker
»	Timor: A Call to Action
»	A Letter to Downer

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