Down and Out with Work Choices: The Impact of Work Choices on the Work and Lives of Women in Low Paid Employment

By Marian Baird, Rae Cooper and Damian Oliver

The report presents the experiences and views of twenty five women in low paid work who have been affected by Work Choices.

Much of the public debate about Work Choices has focussed upon very specific industries, labour markets, occupations and localities, but for the most part this debate has excluded the workers and sectors most exposed to changes in regulation and the lowering of standards. Women in low paid sectors of the labour market, whose pay and conditions were previously determined by the former award system, are among the most vulnerable to the changes introduced by Work Choices.

This research presented here takes a different approach to a quantitative analysis of gender, work and employment conditions and complements the research undertaken in the Women's Pay and Conditions in an Era of Changing Workplace Regulations: Towards a "Women's Employment Status Key Indicators" (WESKI) Database report (WISER 2006). Research of a qualitative nature allows the women's stories to be told. Their voices speak of the lived experience of work and change at work since Work Choices. The narratives of these women go beyond statistics. Their voices demonstrate the full, felt impact of Work Choices in the workplace and beyond - in homes, families and communities.

Our research finds that several and significant changes have occurred in the workplaces of these women and in their employment relationships. For the most part, these changes have been negative and deleterious, reducing decency and democracy at work and in society. These changes have included reductions in pay for already low paid workers, less certainty about wage rates and pay rises, intensification of work, weakening of job security, less financial independence, less money for children and basic household costs, less representation and say at work and in the community, and poorer health and wellbeing. All of these outcomes weaken the capacity of these women to participate in the workforce and in their communities. This is not their choice and it is not a desirable outcome for society at large. These are all women who have pride in work and have been loyal and committed employees. Work Choices has not reciprocated their work efforts.

Underlying the changes has been a shift in the normative context for these low paid workers. The sense that employers have access to increased managerial discretion and ability to hire and fire 'at will' is very marked. Many of the changes also had negative impacts on the employment relationship to the detriment of the business. Rather than positively enhancing the workplace and the employment relationship, or developing 'high road' employment practices, Work Choices appears to condone poor management and to encourage the provision of low quality jobs and 'low road' employment practices.

Women and Work Research Group, Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies,Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Sydney.

(A report to the Office of Industrial Relations Department of Commerce New South Wales Government June 2007)