Work, People and Globalisation: Towards
a new social contract for Australia
There
has been much discussion in employment relations around the world as to the
adoption of neoliberal practices and the ‘opening up’ of economies to the
pressures of globalisation and international interconnectedness. The adoption of neoliberalism, in Australia in
particular, has seen the privatisation of the public sector and the removal of
protections for employees from corporate multinationals. An article written by
Russell Lansbury (2004) calls for a restoration of the social contract at work
and the improvement of particular protections for employees that he refers to
as the three pillars. The social contract at work is defined as:
“The mutual expectations
and obligations that employers, employees and society at large has for work and
employment relationships… it is a set of norms that holds us all accountable
for adding value at work and providing work that is a productive, meaningful
life experience” (Kochan 1999, as cited in Lansbury 2004, p. 109).
The
three pillars Lansbury (2004) identifies have all been undermined in recent
years by the government’s adoption of neoliberal agendas. Lansbury describes
these three pillars of the new social contract as a major requirement for
Australia for the future prosperity of the nation.
1. Access to employment
This is in regards to all
people who are able and willing to seek work. More specifically it suggests a
commitment to full employment and a significant reduction in the unemployment
rate. It ultimately reflects an unemployment rate of zero, however with the
rise in levels of precarious employment in Australia it also includes employees
who are under-employed and not able to get enough work to live adequately.
Under privatisation, employers have met increases in labour demand with
increasing workload of existing employees, rather than creating new jobs.
2. Entitlement of citizens to education and
training
The importance of this
pillar is ultimately to do with both ensuring employees effectively perform at
work and also that workers will be able to adapt to changing technology and
economic pressures. Lansbury highlights that Australia is not keeping up with
the level and quality of training that other ‘advanced industrialised economies’
provide. The rise of precarious and temporary casual work has been a large
contributing factor as employers outsource labour and are stagnant in
contributing financially to training.
3. Economic security in retirement
Historically retirement
incomes have been boosted by the superannuation guarantee contribution, which
in essence aimed to address the issues caused by the aged pension sitting at
just 25% of average weekly earnings. The issue arises again because of the
increase in precarious and casual work caused primarily by the neoliberal
agenda of the state. An increasing number of groups fair poorly in obtaining
economic security for retirement, including the unemployed, low income earners,
and people in casual work.
The
article is quite well written in that it looks at how employment relations in
Australia have changed over the last few decades. In particular he depicts how
the direction Australia is heading in is strongly resemblant of American
employment relations, who have a very strong neoliberal agenda. In this he
effectively highlights the three main areas that the Australian government and
employment relations institutions will have to address in the near future so
that we are able to create a dual-system with equal features of protectionism
and neoliberalism. He does this effectively through justifying the three
pillars incredibly well, as well as providing future direction for both
research into the issue and for these employment relation’s institutions to
consider. If Australia wants to prosper in the economic benefits that
globalisation can provide, we must be able to look after our own local
employees and citizens, and if we don’t we will be heading backwards as a
society.
REFERENCE
Lansbury,
R 2004, ‘Work, People and Globalisation: Towards a new social contract for
Australia’, The journal of Industrial
Relations, vol. 46, no. 1, p. 102-115
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