Sandra Cockfield

Community Unionism and Union Renewal: Building Linkages between Unions and Community in Victoria, Australia

The purpose of this article is to identify various ways unions engage with communities and to understand the obstacles that confront union—community cooperation. Qualitative data was analyzed from multiple sources, including documentary evidence and interviews with union officials and community activists. We locate the debate on community unionism within the broader literature on union renewal and revitalization. In doing this we are able to explore the potential of different forms of union—community relationships to foster union renewal. The study reveals the diversity in relationships both within and across unions and the existence of coalitions operating at different levels within union organization. While the unions in this study were actively seeking to engage with the community, not all alliances were reflective of an inclusive social and political agenda which could constitute the basis for union renewal.

Union renewal, union strategy and technology

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the relationship between union renewal strategies and the adoption and implementation of information and communication technologies by trade unions.Design/methodology/approach – The research centres on a case study of an Australian trade union, exploring the fit between recent changes to the industrial strategy and information technology strategy. It involved interviews with union officials and a review of union documentation.Findings – Information and communication technologies have the potential to promote union renewal by enabling new forms of participation and activism. However, to achieve these outcomes the technologies must be part of an integrated union renewal strategy. The internal political processes of the union will shape both the union renewal strategies and the role and use of technology in implementing these strategies.Research limitations/implications – The research is based on a single trade union, thus limiting the generality of the conclusions drawn....

Assessing the Impact of Employment Regulation on the Low-Paid in Victoria

Since 1993 and the removal of the separate award system for the Australian State of Victoria, many Victorian workers have been on five minimum conditions and on pay levels well below that of employees in other States. Despite attempts to rectify the situation (with Victorian common rule awards), issues of coverage and employer compliance remained. The implementation of WorkChoices legislation in 2006 posed a further challenge to Victorian low-paid workers. Our research found that the impact of WorkChoices on the Victorian low-paid has been largely insidious, surfacing primarily as an increased wage-effort ratio, with people working more unpaid hours and at an increased pace. The implications of this are that these hidden effects are more likely to linger, even with the replacement of WorkChoices with the Fair Work Act, 2009. Furthermore, it appears that employer compliance with minimum conditions requires more adequate enforcement by the Federal Government.

The Servicing-Organising-Community Continuum: Where Are Australian Unions Today?

In countries such as Australia where the state offers reduced support for union activities and also may be openly antagonistic towards them, unions have been seeking alternative strategies to retain their relevance as industrial relations actors, especially as the ‘servicing model’ — which has been practised widely in many western countries — is no longer seen to be a viable long-term option. As a consequence, Australian unions have been seeking to move from the servicing model, which arose largely out of union dependence upon the traditional arbitral system of conciliation and arbitration for rights and relevancy, towards a model of organising that has been widely promulgated in both British and North American writing and research on union renewal strategies. Under the auspices of the Australian Council of Unions (ACTU), Australian unions have been encouraged to adopt at least some of the elements of organising. It can be argued that some Australian unions have always pursued such an approach with extensive workplace delegate structures, organisers being responsible for information sharing, communicating, and establishing ongoing contact with the members for whom they are responsible, while also practising elements of a servicing approach. This accords with Fiorito’s (2004) findings that the models of servicing and organising are not mutually exclusive.

Community and Unions

This article is an introduction to this issue of Labor Studies Journal, which is a collection of articles on the conference held in Prato, Italy, July 1–4, 2006, on the theme of “Socially Responsive, Socially Responsible Approaches to Employment and Work.”

Mobilising at the Workplace: State Regulation and Collective Action in Three Workplaces, 1900 to the 1920s

The belief that arbitration and similar forms of state labour market regulation in Australia have limited the collective mobilisation of workers at the workplace is examined in this article. Using John Kellys mobilisation framework, the article explores the impact of state regulation on workplace regulation and the implications for the capacity of workers to mobilise for collective action. While state regulation spread throughout the Australian states in the early years of federation, the systems varied. The Victorian wages board system was much more restricted in scope than the arbitral system established in New South Wales. The article examines the implications of this for worker mobilisation through three workplace case studies in the early decades of the twentieth century; one in Victoria and two in New South Wales. While wage boards in Victoria neither constrained nor supported collective mobilisation, in New South Wales the picture is more complicated. The article demonstrates that the impact of arbitration was uneven and contradictory, both assisting and constraining collective mobilisation and action.

The marginalisation and resurgence of traditional knowledge systems in India: agro-ecological ‘islands of success’ or a wave of change?

ABSTRACT India is in the grip of an agrarian crisis. Economic, social, environmental and political forces have adversely affected the relationship between the small-scale primary producer and the production process. In the context of this crisis, traditional knowledge-inspired food systems have given rise to ‘islands of success’ that have allowed small and marginal farmers to reclaim their livelihoods across the country. In this paper, we analyse three different islands of success using an agro-ecological framework, arguing that such islands of success based on traditional knowledge are becoming an increasingly necessary approach to agriculture. However, political will, political engagement and effective policies that support traditional knowledge in agriculture are required for these islands of success to become waves of change.

Work, employment and human resources: the redistribution of economic and social power?

The annual conference of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) provides an opportunity for those interested in industrial relations and related disciplines to get together in a friendly and convivial environment to present their latest research and discuss the latest developments in the field. The 2014 Conference held in Melbourne carried on this tradition. We provide a brief outline of the conference and summarise some of the key issues included in the many discussions that took place.