
Issue No 51		28 April 2000

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Review

The World of Wobbly Window Cleaners

By Nick Wailes - lecturer, Work & Organisational Studies, University of Sydney.

A new book 'Reshaping the Labour Market' shines the spotlight on the impact of labour market deregulation.

I work at a university. The other day I had to walk to the other side of the campus to deposit a form with some obscure office. On my way I saw a young bloke getting a long ladder off the roof of an old, dented van. By the time I returned, he was at the top of this precarious ladder cleaning windows. I stood and watched for a while. Not only was he not doing a very good job, but a couple of times he had to grab on to the window sill because the ladder was wobbling violently. From what I could see the window cleaner was going as quickly as possible and in the process was taking a lot of risks. Maybe it is just as well has hasn't leased a shiny new van- he might not be around long enough to enjoy it. Welcome to the new flexible workforce.

Not so long ago this wouldn't have happened. The windows would be cleaned by university employees, and not by an independent contractor. The university as an employer would have been required to provide appropriate equipment for the task. The worker would have been covered by an award which specified some safety requirements for completing such work. Whoever was cleaning the windows would have been paid on an hourly or weekly basis and wouldn't have been forced to work so fast that they endangered themselves. They might have even done the job properly! But we are told that the old ways are bad and inefficient, and in times of tight budgets, it is much better to use independent contractors.

While I am always being told that the university is not in the real world, the changes at the university reflect broader changes in the Australian labour market and they are driven by the same penny pinching logic. We are constantly being told that the country is in the shit and that it is all the fault of inefficient and lazy workers (it has nothing to do with the idiots that run the companies). To make Australian companies competitive, workers have to give up 100 years worth of gains and not question what we are told to do by our elders and betters. Most important, we are constantly told, those nasty unions have to be stopped from getting in the way with all their dangerous talk of the need for a decent wage and a safe workplace.

We are normally told all of this crap by a particular type of economist or people who are advised by these types of economists. These economists derive their results from economic models which bear no relation whatsoever to the real world. Most people in the real world know that recent changes in labour market regulation have got less to do with economic efficiency and more to do with forcing the weakest to bear all the costs of economic change. Luckily there are still some economists that are actually interested in what goes on in the real world. Reshaping the Labour Market brings together the finest of these economists and presents a compelling counter to the flawed logic that has driven recent changes in labour market regulation in Australia. The first chapter, by Sue Richardson, provides an account of why labour markets were regulated in the first place. The basic reason is because workers tend to get exploited. The second chapter by Keith Hancock is a masterly demolition job of the economic theory behind labour market deregulation. In particular, he demonstrates that labour market deregulation in not likely to improve economic efficiency and may in fact damage the ability of the country to respond to economic change. Isn't it amazing what happens when you build realistic assumptions into economic models? Above all Hancock provides a timely reminder that labour is not just a commodity like all other commodities but rather that labour power is attached to human beings who deserve to be treated with some dignity.

The other chapters in the book concentrate on the consequences of labour market deregulation and focus in particular on the weakest in the labour market. The picture that emerges from these chapters is frightening. Low paid, low skilled and vulnerable Australians have been well and truly shafted. Not surprisingly, this has had deleterious consequences for the health, welfare and family life of many Australians. It has even created economic inefficiencies. The chapters are technical but accessible and despite being depressing are really interesting.

When I finished reading this book, I found myself wondering whether there are too many people in the labour movement that have given up questioning the economic theories that recent policies have been based on. Skilled, well-organised workers might be able to play the productivity game in enterprise bargaining, but in the process they may be helping to consign the weak to a bleak future. Every now and again you hear an old timer muttering "an injustice to one is an injustice to all". For those who still believe this, Reshaping the Labour Market provides some of the ammunition needed to counter the economic theories which have helped create far too much injustice.

Sue Richardson (ed) Reshaping the Labour Market: Regulation, Efficiency and Equality in Australia, Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 65284 6 $34.95 paperback.

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Issue 51 contents

Interview: Wrestling With Reith
CPSU national secretary Wendy Caird has faced the full force of Peter Reith's attack on the federal public sector. The good news is she's still fighting.

Unions: The Organiser
As the nature of working life changes fundamentally, union organisers like Sally are taking up the challenge and changing too.

Safety: Remembering the Fallen
NSW Industrial Relations Minister Jeff Shaw's keynote address to mark the International Day of Mourning for Deaths in the Workplace.

History: May Day Connections
May Day as a modern working class celebration and commemoration began from the 1886 events in Chicago where workers were demonstrating for an eight hour day. But the day already had special significance for working people before then.

Women: Swelling the Ranks
Jenny Wright wears the honour of being the nation's first pregnant wharfie modestly. But it's not all clear sailing for this trailblazer.

International: Dawn Raid to Arrest Korean Union Leaders
Riot police have broken into the office of the Daewoo Motors Workers Union in Pupyung, near Seoul, and taken union leaders into custody for the "crime" of leading a militant struggle to save the jobs of Korean auto workers.

Satire: Angry Star City Staff Strike it Unlucky
Gamblers panicked when they discovered they were locked out of the Casino when 1800 workers walked out.

Review: The World of Wobbly Window Cleaners
A new book 'Reshaping the Labour Market' shines the spotlight on the impact of labour market deregulation.

» Government to Outsource Staff Relations

» Dial-A-Contract Hits Call Centres

» Reith Loses Plot Over 'Bad Bargaining' Bible

» Prayer for the Fallen Marks International Day

» Entitlement Time-Bomb Still Ticking

» No Joy for Southern Picket

» Union Fighter Shapes Up For Casino Workers

» Stopped Clock Starts Ticking at Sydney Water

» Telstra Tangle Over 'Honest Rob'

» A Week of May Days

» Big Drum Up for East Timor!

» Pick a Pollie - the Truth Revealed