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This article describes the ways in which teachers' efforts to incorporate vocational education and training (VET) programmes into the school curriculum are being hampered by lack of coordination and support from education authorities. Show less

This report, prepared as a foundation for discussions at the Tripartite Meeting on the human resource implications of globalisation and restructuring in commerce, reviews the effects of globalisation and the restructuring of the commerce sector. The changes and developments occurring within commerce have an ongoing impact on employment, working conditions and industrial relations, directly within the commerce sector as well as in related industries. This report outlines some recent global trends in the commerce sector and reviews a number of the resulting effects on employment. Chapters in this publication include: Globalisation, restructuring and employment in commerce; Internationalisation and new commercial circuits; The market-place becomes more liberal; Improving the efficiency of the supply chain through information technology; The changing consumer and retail formats; Labour-management relations in the context of globalisation of distribution circuits; Voluntary initiatives in the commerce sector and the ILO's involvement. A list of suggested discussion points is included. Show less

This article describes, on a state by state basis, the industrial relations problems caused by the introduction of vocational education and training (VET) courses into Australian schools. Show less

This publication examines the changing nature of work in Australia and explores the changes that have affected working life since 1983, their causes and consequences, and proposes strategies to promote workplace justice and efficiency in the future. The discussion is based on a decade of commissioned research undertaken by the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (ACIRRT), ACIRRT's database of registered enterprise agreements, data taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Surveys (AWIRS) of 1990 and 1995. Some of the major issues explored are: the emerging gap between higher and lower paid groups of workers in the labour market; the impact of enterprise bargaining in workplace relations on the role of unions; the managerialisation of the workforce where workers are impelled to negotiate salary packages in competition with fellow workers; the intensification of work and longer working hours; technological change; retrenchment; new workplace ideologies; increasing employment insecurity; and a rise in the casualisation of work, temporary jobs and outsourcing of work. The book concludes with a discussion of policy and proposes solutions which acknowledge new workplace realities and consider the needs of employees as well as economic productivity and competitiveness. Show less

The purpose of this paper is to examine the issues surrounding privatisation and deregulation in the context of the partially privatised Australian telecommunications carrier, Telstra. The focus will be on attempting to explain changes in industrial relations approaches in the period from 1992 to 1998. These will be analysed in the context of enterprise bargaining over this time frame. The paper will consider changes in employment, pay, the employment relationship and outsourcing. It will be argued these changes were largely due to deregulation but mediated by political contingency, especially through the privatisation process. Show less

Sustainable development requires innovative strategic approaches at organisational level as well as a range of new skills and competencies throughout the workforce. The development of appropriate training materials and courses is an essential part of this equation. This report presents an overview of the Foundation's research and findings on environmental management training requirements in industry in the European Union from 1993-1998. The first part of the 'Training in Environment Management' project was carried out in 1993-1994 and covered Denmark, Germany, France and the UK. It was based on existing literature, enquiries and case studies and looked into corporate environmental and resource management introduced in recent years in a number of European companies and the education and training provision which is and will be required in relation to managers concerned with developing integrated and environment-related industrial and business strategies. The second part of the project, covering Denmark and Germany only, was undertaken in 1995 and combined existing knowledge and original research. It focused on the role and education and training requirements of categories of lower management and skilled and semi-skilled workers. The third part of the project examined the role and education and training requirements of categories of middle management involved in the implementation of the new corporate responses to environmental challenges. It was carried out in 1996-1997, in Denmark, Germany and Finland and was based primarily on enquiries and case studies. This publication contains four chapters: Chapter 1 provides an overiew and introduction; Chapter 2 focuses on environmentally innovative industrial practices and training activities at different levels of a company; Chapter 3 examines environmentally innovative education and training institutions; and Chapter 4 presents conclusions and recommendations. Show less

This article reports on a study of shopfloor ‘coping’ behaviour in an engineering company which had launched a major ‘World Class Manufacturing’ (WCM) initiative. The article unpacks the meaning of WCM and shows how its impact varied markedly between different manufacturing cells. More centrally, it reveals a significant gap between managerial understanding and attitudes to the new manufacturing and the response found among a significant proportion of employees. In particular, through a close analysis of employee accounts and concerns, it is shown that shopfloor employees, far from viewing initiatives such as WCM as panaceas, regard them as disruptions to routines which have somehow to be accommodated. Moreover, the analysis reveals how employee coping behaviour simultaneously allows them to achieve that accommodation and enables the shortcomings in the planned initiatives to be at least partly rectified. Coping behaviour therefore both subverts the WCM program and allows it to function.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This exploratory paper considers as a starting point some of the economic theories which currently speak to industrial relations and briefly examines privatisation-type changes occurring in the public services in order to identify the industrial relations implications from these changes and endeavours to answer the question: is there a distinctive pattern of industrial relations associated with privatisation? Show less

This paper aims to discuss major developments in workplace reform in the building and construction industry and link them to current thinking on generic competencies. This activity is the initial phase of a three-year research project that is investigating the role of generic competencies in workplace reform with a view to identifying strategies for enhancing the acquisition and deployment of generic competencies in the industry, with a particular emphasis on their potential to facilitate ongoing reform initiatives. The paper begins with a background summary of workplace reform and a brief review of the philosophy of the reform which began with the goal of cooperative workplace relations. The evolution of the reform is outlined from the 1980s into the 1990s through the major areas of industrial relations, project organisation/management, new technologies, human resource management, and environmental factors in construction. This is followed by a discussion of the role of generic competencies in relation to workplace reform, and the implications of research findings on generic competencies for building and construction work. The paper concludes with a summary of the general findings from case studies on major construction sites in New South Wales (NSW) and proposes issues for further discussion and research.

Other papers on this topic are indexed at TD/TNC 68.182 and TD/TNC 68.183. Show less

Economic liberalisation, where more liberal economic policies were adopted, promoting private domestic and foreign investment in largely market-led economies, took place in the countries of Southern Africa, including Namibia and Zimbabwe, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This paper provides an analysis of the economic contributions of multinational enterprises (MNEs) to the economies of Namibia and Zimbabwe. The author examines various social aspects and compares the volume, distribution and contributions of MNE capital to the economies of the two countries before and after economic liberalisation. The analysis is presented in two parts, the first examining the case of Namibia and the second, the case of Zimbabwe. Show less