This book explores the precarious margins of contemporary labor markets. Over the last few decades, there has been much discussion of a shift from full-time permanent jobs to higher levels of part-time and temporary employment and self-employment. Despite such attention, regulatory approaches have not adapted accordingly. Instead, in the absence of genuine alternatives, old regulatory models are applied to new labour market realities, leaving the most precarious forms of employment intact. The book places this disjuncture in historical context and focuses on its implications for workers most likely to be at the margins, particularly women and migrants, using illustrations from Australia, the United States, and Canada, as well as member states of the European Union. Managing the Margins provides a rigorous analysis of national and international regulatory approaches, drawing on original and extensive qualitative and quantitative material. It innovates by analyzing the historical and contemporary interplay of employment norms, gender relations, and citizenship boundaries.
Author(s): Leah F. Vosko
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 320
Contents......Page 12
List of Figures......Page 16
List of Tables......Page 17
List of Abbreviations......Page 18
Introduction......Page 20
Precarious Employment......Page 21
The Normative Model of Employment......Page 22
The Gender Contract......Page 25
Citizenship Boundaries......Page 28
Regulations at Different Scales......Page 32
A Multi-Method Approach......Page 34
The Book in Brief......Page 36
1. Forging a Gender Contract in Early National and International Labour Regulation......Page 45
Select National Developments, 1830s–1930s......Page 46
Hours and Night Work......Page 47
Wages......Page 51
Dangerous Substances and Occupations......Page 53
Maternity Protection......Page 55
International Developments, 1870s–1919......Page 56
Consensus and Contestation around Protecting Women, 1878–1913......Page 57
The Consolidation of Female Caregiving and the Birth of the ILO, 1919......Page 62
Preparing the Ground for the SER......Page 67
2. Constructing and Consolidating the Standard Employment Relationship in International Labour Regulation......Page 70
The Bilateral Employment Relationship......Page 71
Standardized Working Time......Page 73
Continuous Employment......Page 77
Reinforcing the Pillars: Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining......Page 80
Migrant Work......Page 81
Equal Remuneration, Maternity, and Social Security......Page 84
Non-Discrimination......Page 86
The Resilience of the Baseline......Page 89
3. The Partial Eclipse of the SER and the Dynamics of SER-Centrism in International Labour Regulations......Page 92
The Declining Significance of Full-Time Permanent Employment......Page 93
The Expansion of Non-Standard Employment......Page 97
SER-Centrism at the Margins of Late-Capitalist Labour Markets......Page 99
Continuing Adjustments to the Crumbling Gender Contract, 1975–1990......Page 100
Consolidating a Multi-Tiered Framework for Migrant Workers’ Protection......Page 101
The Social Declaration (1998) and ‘Decent Work’ (1999, 2008)......Page 104
Regulating Part-Time, Fixed-Term, Temporary Agency Work, and Self-Employment......Page 106
4. Regulating Part-Time Employment: Equal Treatment and its Limits......Page 114
The Deterioration of Standardized Working Time......Page 115
SER-Centric Responses to Precariousness in Part-Time Employment: The ILO Convention on Part-Time Work (1994)......Page 119
Regulating Part-Time Employment in Australian......Page 122
The Management of the Margins of the Australian Labour Market......Page 124
Dynamics of Part-Time Casual Employment in Australia: Gendered Precariousness......Page 126
Strategies for Limiting Precariousness amongst Part-Time Workers in Australia......Page 128
‘Work Choices’......Page 133
The Australian Labor Party: Working with Work Choices......Page 134
Lessons from Australia and Alternative Possibilities......Page 136
5. Regulating Temporary Employment: Equal Treatment, Qualified......Page 145
The Erosion of the Open-Ended Employment Relationship......Page 147
European Employment Policy Framing Directives on Fixed-Term and Temporary Agency Work......Page 152
The EU Directive on Fixed-Term Work (1999)......Page 155
Regulating Temporary Agency Work in the EU 15......Page 159
National Regulations in the EU 15, Mid-1970s–Early 2000s......Page 160
Contemporary Dynamics of Temporary Agency Work in the EU 15......Page 162
EU-Level Attempts at Regulating Temporary Agency Work, 2000–2008......Page 166
The Directive on Temporary Agency Work (2008)......Page 171
Lessons from the EU 15 and Alternative Possibilities......Page 175
6. Self-Employment and the Regulation of the Employment Relationship: From Equal Treatment to Effective Protection......Page 184
The Destabilization of the Employment Relationship at the Crux of the SER......Page 186
SER-Centric Responses to Precariousness in Work for Remuneration at Cusp of the Employment Relationship: ILO Actions, 1990–2006......Page 191
The ILO Recommendation on the Employment Relationship (2006)......Page 195
Approaches to Regulating Self-Employment in Industrialized Market Economy Countries......Page 202
Maximizing Enterprise Work: The Australian Case......Page 203
Promoting Entrepreneurship and Protecting Economically Dependent Workers: EU Approaches......Page 206
Lessons from Industrialized Market Economy Countries and Alternative Possibilities......Page 215
7. Alternatives to the SER......Page 227
Why there is No Returning to the SER......Page 228
A Tiered SER......Page 231
A ‘Flexible SER’......Page 234
‘Beyond Employment’......Page 237
Towards an Alternative Imaginary......Page 243
Appendix A: Table of Selected International Labour Regulations, 1906–2008......Page 249
Appendix B: List of International Labour Conferences Observed......Page 252
Appendix C: List of Interviews......Page 253
Appendix D: Data Sources and Notes for Statistical Figures and Tables......Page 255
Bibliography of Primary Sources......Page 262
Bibliography of Secondary Sources......Page 275
A......Page 310
B......Page 311
C......Page 312
E......Page 314
F......Page 316
G......Page 317
I......Page 318
L......Page 320
M......Page 321
N......Page 322
P......Page 323
R......Page 324
S......Page 325
T......Page 327
U......Page 328
W......Page 329
Z......Page 330
