http://hdl.handle.net/2123/193 Search the Channel search http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/simple-search http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5733 Title: We’ve Been Down this Road Before: Evidence on the Health Consequences of Precarious Employment in Industrial Societies, 1840-1920<br/><br/>Authors: Quinlan, Michael<br/><br/>Abstract: A large body of international scientific research now indicates that the growth of job insecurity, flexible/temporary work and precarious forms of self-employment have had significant negative consequences for occupational health and safety. What is often overlooked in debates over the ‘changing world of work’ is that today’s widespread use insecure and short term work is not new but represents a return to something more resembling labour markets in Australia, Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th century. As this paper will seek to show, not only were precarious and exploitive working arrangements common during this period but the adverse effects of these on the health, safety and wellbeing was well documented in government inquiries, medical research, press reports and a variety of other sources. Drawing primarily on Australian and British sources, attention here will focus on casual labourers, sweated garment workers, the self-employed and merchant seamen. The paper highlights the valuable role historical research can play in shedding light on contemporary problems and policy debates.<br/><br/>Description: Not refereed Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5732 Title: Can Historical Research into Fengshui Tell Us Anything about Business in China?<br/><br/>Authors: Paton, Michael<br/><br/>Abstract: The commodification of higher education has been led by business schools in Australia, and they have been accused of teaching merely technique and preaching greed in their manifesto of career and revenue generation. The study of history has been a casualty in this push for the techniques rather than the substance of business. This paper argues that even historical research into a subject as arcane as the traditional Chinese art/science of fengshui can lead to a greater understanding of the context of business in China and therefore of Chinese business practice itself.<br/><br/>Description: Not refereed Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5731 Title: The Whole Truth: How History can Inform Our Understanding of Ageing Workforces<br/><br/>Authors: Colley, Linda<br/><br/>Abstract: The ageing of Australian workforces is a universally accepted truth. In recent years the increasing rate of retirements has been a significant contributor to tight labour markets and skills shortages. The ageing workforce is generally linked to the ageing population, and explained in demographic terms – declining fertility/birth-rates and increasing longevity have changed the population profile, and the number of labour market entrants is only just keeping pace with labour market exits. Policy solutions are then developed from this limited demographic explanation.I argue that these demographic explanations are overly simplistic and ignore the historical context, particularly in the public sector environment. Since the 1970s, there have been extensive reforms as public sectors have embraced managerial and contractual philosophies, and radically altered both public management and public sector employment relations. These reforms have led to a double-whammy of reduced employment of younger employee cohorts and increased retention of older employee cohorts. This paper focuses on one part of the reform process related to merit and recruitment policies, in the period up until the late 1980s. I argue that the likely ageing of the workforce as a result of these policies could have been predicted beforehand, or at least identified as they occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, if public services had kept better workforce data and undertaken forecasting of workforce trends. Without understanding these historical explanations, policy solutions will be limited in scope, success and sustainability.<br/><br/>Description: Not refereed Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5730 Title: Competition in Retailing: Lessons from the History of Rochdale Consumer Co-operatives in Australia<br/><br/>Authors: Patmore, Greg; Balnave, Nikola<br/><br/>Abstract: Rochdale consumer co-operatives have played an integral role in the lives of many people in particular localities in Australia. The Rochdale movement developed in waves in the period prior to the end of World War II, but went into decline over the following decades. While the movement has collapsed in Australia, a number of Rochdale consumer co-operatives continue to thrive in rural areas of Australia, largely by drawing upon a reciprocal relationship with the local community. A further reason for the survival of these rural co-ops is that they have linked up with franchising. This arrangement – community co-operative ownership and franchising – provides another alternative in the quest to increase competition and reduce market concentration in retailing in Australia.<br/><br/>Description: Not refereed Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT