Building sustainable workforce futures

This is the annual special issue of Labour and Industry, arising from the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) Conference in February. The conference was held in Sydney, hosted by Macquarie University and organised by Louise Thornthwaite, Nikola Balnave, Alison Barnes, Lucy Taksa, Ray Markey and Troy Sarina. The theme of the conference was Building Sustainable Workforce Futures, with the object of encouraging discussion on sustainability, decent work, social inclusion and diversity while also exploring, more generally, policy, practice and regulation in the broader field of employment relations. Participants came from all over Australia and New Zealand, as well as from Canada, Sweden, Italy, the U.K. and the U.S.

This was an important anniversary for AIRAANZ – the 30th Annual Conference. Since 1985, AIRAANZ Conferences have continued to provide a unique environment for the sharing of research and knowledge on industrial relations; unique because of the ‘cultural continuities’ of which Di Kelly (2005) wrote over a decade ago. At the early conferences, when there were fewer participants, and only one session occurred at a time, the Conference was egalitarian, and collegial, with a pervading culture of informality, friendliness and vigorous discussion. That culture and the supportive atmosphere it creates, continues still. The number of stimulating papers by postgraduate students at the 2016 Conference suggests this will continue well into the future.

While new issues and concepts such as sustainability, decent work, diversity and inclusion have emerged, the issues that traditionally preoccupied the field 30 years ago remain. The ways in which these issues present themselves, approaches to their conceptualisation and even the methods in which they are researched may have changed in some ways. Nonetheless, the responses of employers, workers and their representative organisations, and governments to shifting political ideologies, economic circumstances, power relations, technologies and demographics continue to inspire research and debate.

They also continue to dominate the political landscape. The heated debate in Australia over the proposed re-establishment of the Building and Construction Industry Commission (in 2015–2016) and more recently, abolition of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (in April 2016), demonstrate, once again, the central role that industrial relations play in politics, economics and society. It also demonstrates the ideological ferocity permeating discussion and the ever-present necessity for scholarly research to provide the evidence needed to ground not only public and political debate but also policy making and regulation in reality. The emerging prevalence of systematic underpayment of wages in Australia, which has been the subject of Stephen Clibborn’s paper at the Conference, the joint Four Corners and Fairfax Media investigation into 7-Eleven stores (Branley 2015), other Sydney Morning Herald reports and inquiries by the Fair Work Ombudsman (Toscano 2016) also demonstrates the apparent ease with which even enforceable working conditions can be degraded and lost. This also points to the continuing need to examine and re-examine the effectiveness of industrial relations institutions and regulations in achieving their stated objectives.

The conference organising team chose the theme of Building Sustainable Workforce Futures to enable a focus on sustainability, decent work, diversity and inclusion. Sustainability has increasingly become a focus of discussion within the field of industrial relations, as in other scholarly fields, as a result of very rapid and substantial changes in climates, technology, markets and populations. Within industrial relations and human resource management, the notion of sustainability has been used in different ways. Ehnert (2011) highlights several of these interpretations/uses. For some, it refers generally, to the management of human resources in the context of companies striving for economic, social and ecological sustainable development. Others point more specifically to the social responsibility of organisations towards stakeholders, including employees, in their management of employment relations. For others, the achievement of sustainability requires that organisational roles, responsibilities and relationships need to be designed in a sustainable way. In the performance management space, sustainability is linked to the need to broaden HRM objectives from traditional financial performance criteria to include employee well-being, social legitimacy and employee health. Employee participation has been a particular focus of much discussion on sustainability in the Australian context. Gollan (2005) focused on the pivotal role of high involvement management practices, including high quality communication and consultation between management and employees in ensuring achievement of organisational performance and sustainable outcomes for both employers and employees. Markey et al. (2014) report on Climate Change and the Australian Workplace documented the extent of employee participation in organisational climate change strategies, particularly through collective bargaining.

Decent work is one of four key pillars in the International Labour Office’s (ILO) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As the ILO Director-General (2007) stated, in discussing the need for an integrated approach to sustainable development, ‘it is in workplaces that the social, economic and environmental dimensions come together inseparably’. According to the ILO:

Decent work sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives. It involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men. (ILO 2007)

Fostering and achieving diversity and inclusion in organisations, therefore, is intertwined with the objective of decent work and integral also to the pursuit of sustainable outcomes. While debate continues about the meaning of the concepts of diversity and inclusion and the relationship between them (Roberson 2004; French et al. 2012), the importance of voice, participation, being treated with dignity, fairness and equity, as well as specific management strategies and organisational culture remain central to both concepts and their operationalisation.

Reflections on the conference

At the 2016 AIRAANZ conference, there were 61 papers presented, of which 18 had been submitted as full refereed papers. The Conference attracted a diverse range of presentations examining collective bargaining, wages, supply chains, immigrant workers, human resource management, industrial relations theory, occupational health and safety, gender and work, employee participation and engagement, and industrial relations in various sectors of the economy. The Conference themes of sustainability, decent work, diversity and inclusion were discussed across the streams. That is, all the papers explicitly or implicitly addressed issues concerning workforce futures in the sense of the future nature of work and working lives, the prospects for equity and fairness, and the prospects for employee participation, joint decision-making and collective bargaining over the terms of engagement.

The AIRAANZ Conference included two sterling addresses which stimulated discussion for the remainder of the gathering and, we hope, beyond. First, Johanna Macneil opened the Conference on Wednesday by giving the Presidential Address. Within an incisive examination of the academic labour process, and the demands and challenges facing academics in the current fiscal and political environment and associated ramping of performance expectations, Johanna identified the critical importance of collegiality to our occupational well-being. On Thursday, Dorothy Sue Cobble, Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University gave the Keynote Address on Worker Mutualism in an Age of Entrepreneurial Capitalism. This cogently argued and graphically illustrated the role that cooperation could play in civilising capitalism. Professor Cobble’s visit was funded under the Macquarie University Visiting Scholars’ Visa Scheme. These addresses are included in this special issue.

The Conference also hosted a Plenary Session on the Royal Commission on Trade Union Corruption and Governance (Commonwealth of Australia 2015). With considerable insight and generosity, three distinguished speakers provided perspectives and reflections on the Royal Commission: Tony Sheldon (TWU), Anthony Forsyth (RMIT) and David Peetz (Griffith University). This Forum arose out of a suggestion which Raymond Markey made that we needed an opportunity at this Conference to reflect upon and discuss the Royal Commission.

With Justice Heydon as Sole Commissioner, the Commission had delivered its six volume report on 28 December 2015, between Christmas and the New Year, when most were on their annual vacations. The Commission had started hearing evidence in March 2014. Originally slated to run for less than 9 months, the inquiry had its term extended in October 2014 to 21 months to cover the breadth of evidence brought before it. By its close, the Royal Commission had cost $45.9 m (which, of course, does not include the costs of those appearing before it). It had received evidence from 505 witnesses over 189 days of hearings, held in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra.

The report found that union corruption is ‘widespread’ and ‘deep-seated’ and it made a host of recommendations regarding the regulation of trade unions, criminal charges, and the re-establishment of a Building and Construction Commission. The Australian Labor Party (ALP) had always criticised the commission for being a politicised attack on unions, a witch hunt established by the Federal Coalition Government to discredit the labour movement and the ALP. In the 2 months preceding the AIRAANZ Conference, there were references to the Royal Commission Report almost nightly on the TV news. The Plenary Session speakers were enormously generous in providing very thoughtful analyses on various aspects of the report. While all three speakers observed the potentially toxic implications of the Royal Commission for trade unions, they shared different perspectives on the recommendations in the report, the likelihood of legislative change giving effect to the recommendations, and the implications not only for union autonomy but also union membership.

Academics have tended not to play a big role in public debate in New Zealand and Australia. While industrial relations scholars have been seeking to contribute more often to political discussion through various public and social media platforms, and The Conversation has provided a particularly valuable source in this regard, universities are increasingly expecting greater public engagement of academic staff. A Media Forum, chaired by Marian Baird, was held at the Conference to provide an opportunity for discussion with practitioners about how AIRAANZ members might increase this contribution and share research findings within the broader community. There was spirited discussion with prominent journalists and reporters on developing opportunities for regular contributions through the media. A second Forum, which Mark Bray chaired, on communicating with practitioners, also proved very useful in identifying ways in which industrial relations academics might build stronger links with the practitioner community.

A distinctive feature of the 2016 Conference was the Care Work Stream, which contained 12 papers. Coordinated by Donna Baines (University of Sydney), Sara Charlesworth (RMIT) and Tamara Daly (York University, Canada), the Care Work Stream explored issues pertaining to employment relations and public policy in this growing but typically under-resourced and low-waged sector. Issues included: the intersection of care work with funding, employment and migration regimes in producing front-line workers’ conditions of work, the impact of the marketization of community and social services, and specific issues to do with various segments of the care sector, including aged care, long-term care, family day care and rural aged care. The importance of understanding what constitutes quality in care jobs and why they are characterised by wages and working conditions even poorer than in other feminised workplaces is critical to forging effective strategies to improve working lives in this sector. This is becoming ever more critical as this workforce expands and predicted future demand escalates even as the work lacks crucial elements of what many might consider decent work.

A number of papers addressed the theme of trade union renewal, examining aspects of union structure, strategy and behaviour which may impact on the objectives of increasing membership, collectivism and activism. Thus, papers examined whether the centralisation of power and functions within trade unions may alienate existing and potential union members, the impact of social media and other internet technologies on union participation and engagement, and the growth and increasing activism of sports’ unions which runs counter to the typical recent trajectory. Looking further afield, there were papers which explored the strategies for union revitalisation in transitional economies such as Vietnam, global union federations’ strategies for union renewal, and the specific case of the International Transport Workers Federation’s flag of convenience campaign in Australian shipping.

Another key sub-theme of the Conference was Diversity and Inclusion. There were several papers which specifically addressed gender (in)equity issues in relation to remuneration, career progression and work scheduling. One paper used the concept of isomorphism to analyse why construction organisations appear to be so unable to embrace diversity initiatives and to address the hierarchical and numerical underrepresentation of women workers. Another paper threw light on working fathers and the determinants of time allocation to work and family lives once men become fathers. The experience of migrant working girls in Pakistan’s informal economy was examined through the lens of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and its potential to provide an effective regulatory mechanism. Other rich sources of analysis on this theme were papers on the disability labour market, and the experiences of LGBT ‘Fly In Fly Out’ (FIFO) workers in Western Australia. Finally, the Conference included an Open Roundtable chaired by Rae Cooper, which involved a discussion on issues affecting women’s security in retirement, in consultation with the Senate Inquiry on Economic Security for Women in Retirement.

AIRAANZ conference awards

Each year at the conference, AIRAANZ presents awards under several categories. The Vic Taylor Distinguished Long-Term Contribution Award and the Vic Taylor Most Promising Paper Award were established in his honour by Dr Doreen Tan, his widow, in consultation with some of Vic’s colleagues and friends in AIRAANZ. The AIRAANZ Best Postgraduate Paper Award, first awarded in 2015, is presented to the author(s) of the adjudged best refereed paper submitted by a postgraduate student.

This year there were two recipients of the Vic Taylor Distinguished Long-Term Contribution Awards: Associate Professor Ron Callus and Emeritus Professor Glenda Strachan. Emeritus Professor Russell Lansbury, University of Sydney, presented the award to Ron, speaking warmly of Ron’s achievements. Ron could be described as a ‘pioneer of research on workplace relations in Australia’. Ron began his academic career in the Department of Industrial Relations at the University of Sydney in 1981 and still serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in Work and Organisational Studies in the University of Sydney’s School of Business. Ron made a major contribution to industrial relations research and practice in his role as Director of the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (ACIRRT) from 1991 to 2005. He was an outstanding leader of this prominent research centre in applied industrial relations research, a centre which excelled in industry engagement before this became as much the priority it is today. Through ACIRRT, Ron has also had a significant influence on policy debates about the regulation of employment and working life. Prior to heading ACIRRT, Ron served as Project Director for the first Australian Workplace Relations Survey (AWIRS) and was the lead author of Industrial Relations at Work (Callus et al. 1991), the landmark publication based on this survey which was the first of its kind in Australia. The survey data from this project informed the understanding of a generation of industrial relations scholars in Australia.

In presenting the award to Glenda Strachan, Associate Professor Janis Bailey spoke of her contribution to the industrial relations field. A prolific researcher on work, Glenda has focused on EEO, diversity and gender equity in the context of national legislation, organisational policies, trade union participation and more recently, the university sector. Glenda authored Labour of Love, a detailed and engaging history of the Queensland nursing association (Strachan 1996): Glenda also produced the report Work, Career, Home: Women and men experiencing working life in small accounting firms (Strachan and Barrett 2006). She has also examined delivery of Queensland Working Women’s Service (QWWS) programmes for Indigenous women and women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, which influenced QWWS’s practice and led to changes in their strategies. Her public work includes submissions to pay equity inquiries in Queensland and New South Wales. Her work at both Newcastle and Griffith Universities has influenced scores of researchers, many of whom are now making their own distinctive contributions thanks to her mentoring efforts.

The Vic Taylor Most Promising Paper Award was presented to Man Mandy Fong and Hugh Bainbridge for the paper titled, Working fathers: determinants of time allocation to work and family roles. This paper, using Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) data, considered the time use decisions of working fathers (see next section). From a highly competitive field, the AIRAANZ Best Postgraduate Paper Award was won by Gabrielle Jess (with Dr Robin Price) for the paper entitled, ‘Fairness in enforceable undertakings: Comparing stakeholder voices’. Enforceable undertakings are a relatively new mechanism which businesses that have breached workplace health and safety legislation can opt to undertake with the regulator as an alternative to prosecution. This paper examines stakeholders’ perceptions of the fairness of the process and agreements involved in establishing and implementing enforceable undertakings.

The AIRAANZ Conference is a wonderfully collegial, supportive and inspiring 3 days of discussion, debate and connections made and renewed. AIRAANZ continues to lobby on behalf of members’ interests in relation to journal ranking and research assessment schemes. We strongly encourage colleagues and students to join or rejoin AIRAANZ, come to the conference each February, start Tweeting (https://twitter.com/AIRAANZ_news) and maintain the lively dialogue which has always accompanied the field of industrial relations.

Papers in this special issue

This Labour and Industry special issue includes two addresses and four papers. Following double blind peer review of these contributions, they are all revised versions of the earlier versions presented at the conference. The papers approach the conference theme of Building Sustainable Workforce Futures from different angles, and each makes a significant contribution to our understanding of this topic and industrial relations more broadly. Notably, a number of the articles are authored or co-authored by PhD students, emerging industrial relations scholars who are sustaining our field into the future.

So, what of the sustainability of industrial relations as an academic discipline, and of academia and the academic identity in general? These issues are examined by Johanna Macneil in her Presidential Address through the lenses of collegiality, civility and collectivism. While these values are under threat, Macneil considers their meaning and the shape they might take in practice in the academic context, as well as how they may help academics meet many of the challenges that currently confront them.

In her Keynote Address, Dorothy-Sue Cobble invites us to critically reflect on the way we discuss and understand the changing nature of employment and industrial relations on a global scale. She does so by challenging a number of myths which muddy our understanding of worker mutualism and entrepreneurial capitalism. Through an examination of three models of worker mutualism and mutual aid, Cobble paints a picture of a more sustainable, equitable and secure future than is often depicted in the dialogue surrounding neoliberalism and collective labour.

Building sustainable workforce futures is integrally connected to building sustainable work. This implies the need for sustainable industries and thus the opportunity for secure employment. Renato Casado and Donella Caspersz consider the increasing volatility of the Western Australian politico-economic context over the period 2010–2014. Using a qualitative longitudinal research approach, they examine the impact of the changing context on perceived or real breaches of the psychological contract felt by highly skilled immigrants in that state. Sustainable work also suggests a balance between paid work and family and/or broader aspects of life. Drawing on the HILDA survey for the years 2011 and 2012, Man Mandy Fong and Hugh Bainbridge explore the relatively under-researched area of how fathers manage work and family commitments. In particular, they analyse a range of variables that could shed light on the time use decisions of fathers whose child was born in the previous 12 months.

The papers by Kurt Walpole, and Elly Lueng and Donella Caspersz, return us to the issue of worker mutualism and collectivism. While the general focus of Australian industrial relations academics is on collective labour, what of the agency of individuals that make up this collective? The right to collectively bargain was returned to Australians under the Fair Work Act, but to what extent and in what capacity is employee participation in the collective agreement making process facilitated and shaped by the legislation? These questions are examined by Walpole. Leung and Caspersz question the current potential of worker protests in China to develop into an organised labour movement. The proposition that the ‘lived experiences’ of workers has led to a ‘rising consciousness’ and the fostering of class identity in China is challenged by their findings which point to the continued significance of Confucian ideology, and subsistence as the primary concern of many workers.

As with past AIRAANZ Special Issues of this journal, this one features research by postgraduate students. The strong contingent of postgraduate students at the conference and represented in the pages of this journal are a testament to the continuing interest and importance of industrial relations research. In the pursuit of sustainable work futures, many challenges lie ahead, and a vibrant research and publication culture in the industrial relation field will be crucial in meeting those challenges.

On a final note, we are pleased to announce that in February 2016, a new editorial team was appointed to steer Labour and Industry. The new Editors-in-chief are Jane Parker (Massey University), Jim Arrowsmith (Massey University) and Noelle Donnelly (Victoria University of Wellington). Associate editors include Christian Yao, Stephen Blumenfeld and Amanda Reilly, and the Book Reviews Editor, Sarah Proctor-Thomson, all of the Victoria University of Wellington. While this change will usher in a new and exciting era for the journal, we also extend our gratitude to the retiring editorial team of Suzanne Young, Anthony O’Donnell and Tim Marjoribanks for their tremendous contribution.