Labour Market Adjustment and Women in the Service Industry: A Survey

Abstract

The celebration in 1993 of a century of women's suffrage in New Zealand has brought even more sharply into focus the uneven impact of the Employment Contracts Act on the workforce. From the outset, debate about the effects of the Employrnent Contracts Act had focused for some on the likely impacts on women workers. This study is located firmly within the tradition of national and international literature front a range of disciplines including economics, industrial relations, sociology:- law and history, which describes a segmented labour market and labour process. One aspect of labour segmentation theory is gender segmentation, that is, the location of women and men in the labour market and their comparative situations. Much theoretical work and empirical research has been done to describe where women are located in the labour market, why they are located there, and that effects that location has upon them. Even within this field of study there is a wide range of subjects for analysis. For example, the subjects can range from the gender earning gap (Blau and Kahn, 1992) and occupational structures (Terrell. 1992) to the challenge of "flexibility" and the pool of labour women traditionally provide (Walby, 1989). Even the concept of skill itself has bad to be revisited by the gender segmentation theorists (Bervoets and Frielink, 1988). Much of the theoretical framework within which these scholars cited have written, along with numerous others, was codified in the 1970s and 1980s in response to Harry BravetJnan's classic mould-breaking \Vork Labor and Monopol)' Capital published in 1974. Writers such as Phillips and Taylor (1980), Cockbwn (1981, 1983, 1985) and Beechey (1982) remain some of the leading contributors to the discussion and ongoing analysis about women in the vvorkforce. As industrial relations regimes and bargaining structures have altered in the 1980s and on into the 1990s, the changes have been observed to impact differently upon different segments of the labour market

When Non-Standard Work Becomes Precarious: Insights from the New Zealand Call Centre Industry

“…Although New Zealand research on non-standard employment is often descriptive and gives little indication why there has been an increase or slight decline in the level of non-standard employment over the past 20 years, there is general agreement that the employment environment vis a vis the economy, the regulatory environment, the level of power of either the employers and trade unions, has a direct influence. There was no doubt that as a result of labour market reforms of the late 1980s and 1990s and the with the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act 1991, New Zealanders witnessed a reversal in conditions and wages, for example the withdrawal of penal rates, the dismantling of industry-specific safety provisions and the erosion of limits on hours of work, etc (Harbridge and Street 1994;Rasmussen and Lamm 2002).…”

Divergence in Part‐Time Work in New Zealand, the Netherlands and Denmark

“…1996;Kelsey 1997). The 1991 Employment Contracts Act facilitated an employment relations transformation that was extraordinary, moving from a century-old conciliation and arbitration system with extensive state regulation to a very decentralized bargaining system (Dannin 1997;Harbridge 1993). As the award system was abolished, so were collectively negotiated regulations over part-time employment, since unions quickly lost most of their bargaining power under the Employment Contracts Act.…”

Absenteeism in the Small Business Sector

“…1994). The studies show that in small businesses are predominately nonunionised (Buultjens, 1994) and that wage rates are often lower, jobs less secure (Harbridge & Street. 1994.…”

“…As a result of labour market reforms commenc ing in the late 1980s, New Zealanders have seen a reversal in condi-tions and wages, for example the withdrawal of penal rates, the dismantling of industry-specific safety provisions and the erosion of limits on hours of work, etc (Harbridge & Street, 1994: Rasmussen & Lamm, 1999. Additionally, many vulnerable employees are not aware of their rights (Gieisner & Rasmussen, 1995).…”

“…The sixth strategy involves supplanting full-time male workers with female part-time, temporary or casual workers. The impact of this strategy on labour in small workplaces is profound, as wages and conditions appear to deteriorate, and has the potential effect of defusing the employer's duty of care (Harbridge & Street, 1994 ). There was a perception among some employers that a predominately non-unionized, precariously employed female work:force is less likely to complain over wages and conditions than a unionized male, permanent, full-time workforce.…”