Training and career experiences of women part-time workers in a finance sector organisation: persistent remnant of the 'reserve army'?

Presenting findings of case study research on employees in a finance sector organisation, this paper explores the linkages between dependant care responsibilities, part-time work and the implications for training and career progression. The study finds that while overtly equitable training and career progression policies exist, the experiences of part-time employees with caring responsibilities are a persistent remnant of the 'reserve army' mentality; i.e. women part-time workers are seen as peripheral to the core business and deterred from critical training essential to career progression within the organisation

Training and flexible labour: nurses in a New South Wales public hospital

This article examines issues of flexible labor and training for registered nurses working in a publicly funded hospital in regional Australia. The article provides insight into issues of labor flexibility for the nursing occupation and the manager's role in facilitating training. It also contributes to the debate concerning training outcomes for employees in different forms of employment. The article reports the findings of research conducted during 1999 in a New South Wales public hospital. It was found that financial constraints in the hospital had a pervasive effect on the training participation opportunities of all employees. In general, casuals and temporary employees enjoyed less priority in employer supported training, although the potential for this was increased by managers' perceptions of permanency where casuals had been working in the same ward on a regular basis. Moreover, a manager's negotiation of training often involved increasing workloads and the shifting of training costs to employees

Working-time flexibility and full-time work in a retail banking organisation

In this article we seek to examine how full-time workers can attain working-time flexibility through formal and informal mechanisms. To explore avenues for flexibility for full-time employees who have caring responsibilities, we look at a single case-study of a retail-banking organisation with a non-union enterprise agreement that pays particular attention to the codification of working-time issues. Through interviews with the human resources department, line managers and full-time employees, the case study demonstrates how within one organisational context, the length of the 'normal' working week has expanded, with weekend work and unpaid overtime merged into the organisational assumption of ordinary hours. The case study highlights the impact of this expansion on full-time employees with caring commitments and the intersection of caring commitments and working-time flexibilities. Much of the working-time flexibility available to full-time employees was informal in nature, dependent on workplace circumstances, and its implementation was mtirely up to the discretion of line managers. The research illustrates how line managers could choose to facilitate employee-based flexibility in working hours but typically this required them to either intensify work for the remaining workforce or intensify work for the managers themselves

The Boeing dispute at Williamtown: what right to bargain collectively?

The strike by Boeing maintenance workers at the Williamtown RAAF base during 2005-2006 was one of the longest in Australia’s recent industrial history. At the core of the strike was the desire by maintenance workers to reach a collective agreement with a company that would only bargain on an individual basis. The dispute demonstrates the absence under the 1996 Workplace Relations Act of a legal mechanism to resolve disputes over union recognition and, more broadly, the lack of genuine choice available to workers who seek to bargain collectively with an employer whose preference lies with other forms of labour regulation. After briefly defining the key concepts and identifying some of the legal mechanisms designed to protect a right to bargain, the paper describes the dispute at Williamtown, including the background and the sequence of events as well as a detailed analysis of management’s position in the dispute. The final section of the paper summarises the main points and explores their implications for the future of industrial relations in Australia