Back to grass roots: Peak union councils and community campaigning

Barnes, Alison; Balnave, Nikola

doi:10.1177/1035304615614452

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Campaigns crossing the boundaries of individual unions have historically included those on working hours and leave, gender pay equity, work-based childcare, secure employment, health, safety and injury compensation and ethical clothing manufacture (Unions NSW, n.d.). Particularly in the last decade, Unions NSW has been actively involved in building new community-based worker rights and social justice outreach campaigns (Barnes and Balnave, 2015). It was, thus, well equipped to move beyond reliance on traditional regulatory structures to initiate a campaign combining public awareness and direct negotiation with digital platform providers.…”

Section: Conceptual Framework: Gig-economy Work Its Regulation and Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating labour standards in the gig economy: Airtasker and Unions New South Wales

Minter¹

2017

Econ. labour relat. rev.

107

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The ‘gig economy’ uses digital platforms to bypass many of the regular responsibilities and costs of employment. Ambiguity as to whether gig-economy workers are independent contractors, dependent contractors or employees allows the undermining of traditional labour standards governing minimum wages and other legislated employment conditions. Labour law and institutions need to catch up to the new reality of this form of work and develop new tools to protect and enhance minimum standards for workers in digital platform businesses. Unions, business and government all have a role to play in the long term. Meanwhile, direct engagement between these new firms and workers’ advocates can also help to mitigate the risks posed to labour standards by digital business models, by addressing regulatory gaps. This article is a case study of innovative negotiations between one platform business (Airtasker) and Unions New South Wales, a peak trade unions body in New South Wales, Australia, in order to establish agreed minimum standards for engagements negotiated through this platform.

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Section: Conceptual Framework: Gig-economy Work Its Regulation and Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating labour standards in the gig economy: Airtasker and Unions New South Wales

Minter¹

2017

Econ. labour relat. rev.

107

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“…Fairbrother (2015: 572) sees union renewal as depending on a re-articulation of progressive purpose, including policy engagement in fields such as transition to a low carbon economy, formulation of industrial policy and participation in transnational governance. Barnes and Balnave (2015) describe a new Australian approach to alliance-building between peak union bodies and grass-roots community campaigning groups.…”

Section: Organised Labour’s Relationship With Capitalist Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resisting neo-liberalism, reclaiming democracy? 21st-century organised labour beyond Polanyi and Streeck

Lloyd

Ramsay

2017

Econ. labour relat. rev.

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Despite its greatly weakened condition, could organised labour again be counter-hegemonic to and ultimately transformative of capitalism? Or is the current crisis, a crisis of collapse of manufacturing and wages and under-consumption due to the loss of redistributive power by key socio-political agents, possibly the final crisis of unionism, as argued by Wolfgang Streeck? Some on the political left, such as Streeck, argue that a new phase has been reached where redistributive and oppositional power of organised labour has been not just defeated but destroyed, with enormous consequences for the future of workers and capitalism itself. This article rejects such an overly pessimistic interpretation and asks what the possibility is of the labour movement’s again playing its historic role of transforming capitalism. It explores the potential role of organised labour in re-embedding the economy within democratic society, as Karl Polanyi argued, and building a socio-economic structure that is both stable and enhancing of social and environmental health. This problem is approached through a critique of the theories of Polanyi and Streeck and an examination of the unfortunate embrace of labourism and accommodation to neo-liberalism in the Australian labour movement.

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“…Australian unions have taken limited steps towards community involvement but have often been constrained by their continued focus on representing working people and using the local community to advance their claims (Barnes and Balnave, 2015), rather than representing the broader community. Although deindustrialised regions should provide unions with ample opportunities to become involved with and in the community, union engagement in community unionism has been ‘patchy and distant’ (Symon and Crawshaw, 2009: 151).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade unions and industrial regeneration in North West Tasmania: Moving beyond lock-in?

Barton

2020

Environ Plan A

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As the North West coast of Tasmania, Australia, has deindustrialised, the region’s unions have lost membership, power and relevance. This process of deindustrialisation opens up possibilities for the unions to become involved in regeneration as regional development actors and, by moving outside the workplace and engaging with the community, renew and revitalise themselves. But many unions have found it difficult to move beyond their traditional forms of action and relationships. This article uses the concept of lock-in, and draws on semi-structured interviews, two forums and a workshop, to detail the way the North West coast unions attempted to break from the confines of the workplace and out into the community. Their attempts to do this were uneven and contested. They were, to varying degrees, locked-in and constrained by their traditional relationships with politicians and their own members. At another level they were locked-out from participating in regeneration decisions by long standing relationships between governments and business and their antagonism towards the unions. Although the unions attempted to reimagine themselves, there remained a pattern of regional lock-in where long-standing relationships continued and limited and hindered the unions’ ability to participate in regeneration debates and activities.

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Back to grass roots: Peak union councils and community campaigning

Cited by 3 publications

References 30 publications

Negotiating labour standards in the gig economy: Airtasker and Unions New South Wales

Negotiating labour standards in the gig economy: Airtasker and Unions New South Wales

Resisting neo-liberalism, reclaiming democracy? 21st-century organised labour beyond Polanyi and Streeck

Trade unions and industrial regeneration in North West Tasmania: Moving beyond lock-in?

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