Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 10.2
Changes to the institutions, rewards and conditions associated with
work.
Changes to the institutions associated with work
• Shift away from centralised and industry wage determination towards enterprise and
workplace wage determination
• Diminished role of industrial tribunals in the Australian industrial relations system
• Declining proportion of employees who belong to trade unions
• Decline in direct industrial activity
• Growth in ambiguous and unprotected forms of employment
• Restructuring of employment and conditions across the public sector through
privatisation and outsourcing
Changes to the rewards/conditions of work
Growth in real average full-time earnings (i.e. earnings adjusted for inflation and
therefore reflecting 'real' purchasing power)
Narrowing of the earnings differential between women and men
Expansion after 1990 in contributors to employment linked superannuation funds
Growth in number of employees who do not receive standard employment benefits
Systematic shift in income distribution from labour to capital (leading to growth in
profits and national income)
Ongoing effects of income tax bracket creep on take-home pay
Growing inequality in the distribution of earnings across the workforce
Restructuring of the normal working week, especially since the early 1990s
practices that have been designed to address the demands of intensified
competition. Moreover, changes in contemporary organisational structures
have resulted in flattened career paths, whereby it is difficult to reward
success and hard work through promotion.
Employers, institutional shareholders and government are clearly
retreating from taking responsibility for work-related issues, resulting in the
risks and costs associated with employment falling on the weakest party in a
work situation (Watson et al. 2003). Gonos (1997) suggests that with regard
to casual work, its advantage is that it offers user firms access to labour
without obligation, allowing them to utilise labour while avoiding many of
the specific social, legal and contractual obligations that are generally
attached to employer status.
Will these trajectories continue?
Governments cannot and should not try to 'wind the clock back' on the eco-
nomic change that has driven the transformation of the workforce. However,
they can ensure that government policies and workplace laws provide
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