Survey of Employers in two LGAs in Southwestern Sydney 2013-2014

This is a report on the responses of 82 employers in Campbelltown, Fairfield, Narellan, Camden and Smeaton Grange, to a 2013-2014 survey designed to gather employers’ views of their skilled labour needs, in order to remain competitive and grow through innovation. Overall recommendation A lighthouse Regional Manufacturing Innovation and Workforce Development Partnership be piloted, to pioneer a regional program of information exchange and shared workforce development accessible to small and medium businesses. This Government-funded model would be supported by creating seconded or earmarked cross-organisational staff positions and roles, with the brief of working across employer groups, key training organisations and the three tiers of government. Their brief would be to provide a focus for gathering, exchanging and disseminating information that is timely, targeted, well- integrated and readily digestible. This information would cover: - Case study approaches to setting up local innovation initiatives - Environmental scanning of technological developments and locally-relevant market opportunities in Australian and global markets - Best- practice tools such as strategies and resources for induction and advice about accessing customised delivery of accredited workplace, online and off-site learning to building workplace expertise - Regional Manufacturing occupational labour market data, and a regional job-matching website specifically for use by local employers and jobseekers. The Partnership would also provide funding and practical support for the creation of recognized workplace development programs and resource materials supporting small manufacturing businesses in training novices and in upskilling staff. The Partnership would have initial funding for five years, and be tasked with the specific mission of embedding into ongoing practice the structures and approaches it develops. Development of the Badgerys Creek Precinct provides a unique catalyst, with significant multiplier effects, for the creation of such a South Western Sydney Advanced Manufacturing Initiative, one of whose focal points might be an Advanced Manufacturing and Aircraft Maintenance hub

How closely do Australian Training Package qualifications reflect the skills in occupations? An empirical investigation of seven qualifications

This paper uses evidence from an Australian research project into under-recognized skills in occupations, gathered through industry-level interviews and company case studies, to examine VET curricula. The project, funded by the Australian Research Council, focused on skill in jobs traditionally regarded in Australia as unskilled. As part of the project, the evidence about skill was compared with the relevant qualifications. The qualifications are contained in Training Packages, which form the basis of most formal VET training in Australia. The qualifications for the seven occupations were in three broad industry areas (manufacturing, services and property services) and had all been developed in recent decades, unlike apprenticed trades which have long-standing qualifications and curricula in Australia. The comparison exercise showed some mismatches between the skills that were found in the researched occupations and the content of the qualifications. Some of the issues are believed to have broader applicability beyond these specific occupations and qualifications and thus can provide evidence to improve the design of Training Packages themselves

Longitudinal evaluation of peritoneal macrophage function and activation during CAPD: Maturity, cytokine synthesis and arachidonic acid metabolism

Longitudinal evaluation of peritoneal macrophage function and activation during CAPD: Maturity, cytokine synthesis and arachidonic acid metabolism. The release of cytokines and prostaglandins (PG) by peritoneal macrophages (PMØ) may influence the cytokine network controlling peritoneal inflammation and in the long-term the function of the peritoneum as a dialysis membrane. In the present study, an evaluation of the long-term effects of peritoneal dialysis on the release of cytokines and prostaglandins, and the expression of surface markers of cellular maturation on blood and mononuclear cells has been performed in patients during their first year on CAPD. Spontaneous release of tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) by PMØ, after 4 or 24 hours in culture, increased significantly with time on CAPD, while there was a small but significant decrease in release of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Production of TNFα and IL-6 was enhanced following incubation of the cells with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), but the effect of LPS was proportionally greater on blood monocytes than on PMØ. There was a significant increase in the concentrations of PGE2 and 6-keto-prostaglandin F1α in overnight dwell peritoneal dialysis effluent with time on CAPD. The levels of TNFα and IL-6 in uninfected PDE were below the detection limit of the immunoassay over the whole time period studied. Expression of CD15, which correlates with immaturity, by PMØ and blood monocytes increased with time on CAPD, while expression of CD11c, a marker of maturation, decreased on blood monocytes, but did not change significantly on PMØ. There was also a slight increase in expression of transferrin receptor in both PMØ and monocytes, but this did not reach statistical significance. These findings suggest that peritoneal macrophages and blood monocytes isolated from CAPD patients over a one year period become increasingly immature with time, and this is accompanied by a significant modulation of their ability to secrete inflammatory cytokines. Dysregulation of macrophage function may have important consequences with respect to inflammatory processes and the long-term function of the peritoneal membrane in CAPD patients

Permanent part-time work: rewriting the family wage settlement?

Despite women’s increased participation in Australian labour markets, the gender norms of the twentieth century family wage settlement have still not been superseded. The gender wage differentials of full-time employment, and the allocation of social welfare, have shifted a little from the male breadwinner/female caregiver model. Nevertheless, full-time hours remain a sticking-point. A gendered full-time/part-time work divide is emerging, in a context where labour markets and their regulation have fragmented. Bargaining models based on “individual choice” allow accommodations, rather than solutions, to the time/income bind. In this context, permanent part-time work, like the earlier family wage, seems to offer the best achievable resolution of the conflicting time demands of work and family life, together with a measure of income security. Whilst still locked in the gender norms of the family wage era, permanent part-time work can only be one of a coordinated range of strategies for working towards a successor settlement

Putting the process back in: rethinking service sector skill

Service skill definitions have been over-extended, by equating compliance with skill, and underdeveloped, by not recognising service jobs' invisible social and organisational aspects. Existing approaches to determining service skill levels draw on occupational qualifications and capacity for labour market closure, on knowledge worker/ knowledgeable emotion worker dichotomies, and on the conceptual conflation of labour process deskilling unskilled jobs and unskilled workers. The theoretical and empirical basis for a new framework identifying hitherto under-specified work process skills' is outlined. This framework allows recognition of the integrated use of awareness-shaping relationship-shaping and coordination skills, at different levels of experience-based complexity derived from reflexive learning and collective problem-solving in the workplace. Political struggles over the use of combinations and levels of these 'skills of experience' may result either in jobs designed to reduce autonomy or in improved skill recognition and development, enhancing equity and career paths.articulation work; emotional labour; equity; service work; skill; work process knowledge; workplace learning