Job Quality in Australia: Perspectives, Problems and Proposals, edited by Angela Knox and Chris Warhurst. The Federation Press, Annandale, NSW, 2015, 208 pp., ISBN: 9781862879669, $60.00, hardback.

Date01 September 2017
Published date01 September 2017
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12237
AuthorTui McKeown
680 British Journal of Industrial Relations
role forstrike action here. In their words,the ‘relative randomness and uncertainty over
who controls your employment experience can be moderated, not by the luxury of a
vote, but bythe sanction of labour withdrawal’ (p. 97).
In Part Seven, the authors focus on employeevoice and the impact it has on wages
and working time. The book takes us through the concepts of voice, participation
and industrial democracy, demonstrating their importance for guaranteeing proper
pay and suitable working time. ‘A poverty of voice may well reproduce poverty in
pay’ (p. 110) the authors state, and the same can be said for working hours when the
atypical becomes regular, continuing the paradoxical trend of employees being both
overworkedand underworked (read: unemployed).
In the last part, the authors discuss some recent trends in employment relations
education, the importance of inequality and the possible impact of automation.
However, after the variously persuasive, humorous and insightful preceding chapters,
the conclusion (titled ‘Some concluding thoughts’) lacks some focus.
So, is the book ‘fairly interesting’? Definitely. It is a delight to read a work that
explains employment relationsin an accessible and educative way while demonstrating
the importance of the topic and its fundamentally conflictual nature. The various
references to popular culture are rather UK-focused and might need an update in a
few years’ time, but they make the book an easy read and a priceless reference work
for those teaching employment relations.
Well, not quite priceless of course. But at a cost of $21, the book fulfils its final
promise of being reasonably cheap; most certainly less pricey, in any case, than other
textbooks that these authors havecontributed to.
The book serves as an excellent introduction to employment relations for students,
but will hopefully also inspire professors and lecturers to take new and interesting
approaches to teaching the topic. It certainly inspired this reviewer.
STAN DESPIEGELAERE
Researcher at the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI),
Brussels
Job Quality in Australia:Perspectives, Problemsand Proposals, edited by Angela Knox
and Chris Warhurst. The Federation Press, Annandale, NSW, 2015, 208 pp.,
ISBN: 9781862879669, $60.00, hardback.
Job Quality in Australia:Perspectives,Problems and Proposals is a slim and unassuming
volume where the size of the book belies the depth and breadth of the topic it explores.
With chapters contributed by some of Australia’s leading researchers in the area of
job quality, the range of topics covered oers the reader opportunity for both critical
analysis and insightful reflection.
As editors Angela Knox and Chris Warhurst note in the introductory chapter,
the challenge in job quality is that it is a complex notion which requires multiple
indicators: ‘the issue is which indicators, how many and how they are analytically
integrated’ (p. 4). This book sets out to address these questions through a range of
academic contributions which span labour law and regulation (chapter 3 by Murray
and Stewart), occupational health and safety (chapter 4 by Quinlan and Bohle) tothe
economic (Bryan and Raerty in chapter 7) and psychosocial (Frenkel in chapter 8).
There is also a novel geographical view oered by Weller and Campbell (chapter 5)
which provides more of a high level, conceptual perspective. The following chapter,
C
2017 John Wiley& SonsLtd.

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT