“We have to break this cycle,” urges Bradon Ellem,long time editor of theJournal of Industrial Relations and professor of employment relations at the University of Sydney Business School:“Most people agree with that but everyone thinks someone else has to fix it,” he says. Shame the government,a huge employer all on its own,doesn’t think to be the fixer.
At the end of 2020,Natalie Lang,the NSW branch secretary of the Australian Services Union,surveyed her union members working in airlines and shipping,in utilities,in community and disability services. Just about one in 10 responded. Of those under 30,more than half said they wanted to leave their jobs in the next 12 months. More than one third of those who worked in the disability sector were intent on changing.
And why? To improve pay,hours of work and job security. To manage stress and pressure of unreasonable workloads. To get away from mad bosses (ok,that’s not exactly what the results say. They say “culture”. We all know culture rots from the top). To try to get ahead. Overall,those surveyed say they worked more than three hours each week for free. These are the very workers employers say they are struggling to find;and here are the reasons they don’t want jobs under the conditions on offer.
As US anthropologist David Graeber said in 2014:“Suddenly it became possible to see that if there’s a rule,it’s that the more obviously your work benefits others,the less you’re paid for it.”
Too many employers have built a business model based on wage theft. When they get caught out,they complain bitterly they will not be able to turn a quid. Next minute,they are buying entire blocks in our CBDs,entire towns,fancy villas. If I’m sounding like an ageing socialist,not so fast. I’m still in my prime.
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What do employers need to do to get workers back on board? Tell yourselves what you have been telling workers for years. Adjust your expectations. Pedal back on your reliance on super profits. Live within your means.
I understand how capitalism works. But capitalists must now recognise how labour works and change accordingly. Offer permanent full-time jobs with sick pay and holiday pay. Offer permanent part-time jobs with similar conditions. Flexibility and autonomy. You will be rewarded by employees who feel valued and who stay at work. Who sign up to stay.
Jenna Price is a visiting fellow at the Australian National University.
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