Working in the Context of Austerity

Donna Baines is Director and Professor of Social Work at the University of British Columbia. Ian Cunningham is Head of Department and Professor of Human Resource Management at the University of Strathclyde.

PART I: Introduction


Understanding Austerity: Its Reach and Presence in the Changing Context of Work and Employment ~ Donna Baines and Ian Cunningham


PART II: Trends and Themes


The Age of Increased Precarious Employment: Origins and Implications ~ Wayne Lewchuk


Stepping Stone or Dead End? The Ambiguities of Platform-Mediated Domestic Work under Conditions of Austerity. Comparative Landscapes of Austerity and the Gig Economy: New York and Berlin ~ Niels van Doorn


Trends in Collective Bargaining, Wage Stagnation and Income Inequality under Austerity ~ Ian Cunningham and Philip James


Privatization, Hybridization and Resistance in Contemporary Care Work ~ Pat Armstrong and Donna Baines


PART III: Case Studies of Austerity in the Private, Public and Nonprofit Sectors


Non-Citizenship at Work: Labour Flexibility Behind the Counter in Western Canada ~ Geraldina Polanco


What We Talk About When We Talk About Austerity: Social Policy, Public Management and Politics of Eldercare Funding in Canada and China ~ Kendra Strauss and Feng Xu


Public Sector Reform and Work Restructuring for Firefighters in Scotland ~ Eva Jendro and Dora Scholarios


Austerity, Personalized Funding and the Degradation of Care Work: Comparing Scotland’s Self-Directed Support Policy and Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme ~ Donna Baines and Doug Young


The Rise of Managerialism in the US: Whither Worker Control? ~ Mimi Abramovitz and Jennifer Zelnick


Austerity and the Irish Non-Profit Voluntary and Community Sector ~ Pauric O’Rourke


PART IV: Alternatives and Resistance


‘The most striking progressive achievement in labor and employment policy’? The Scottish Living Wage in Social Care during Austerity ~ Alina M. Baluch


Legislation: A Double-Edged Sword in Union Resistance to Zero-Hours Work – The Case of Ireland ~ Juliette MacMahon, Lorraine Ryan, Michelle O’Sullivan, Jonathan Lavelle, Caroline Murphy, Mike O’Brien, Tom Turner and Patrick Gunnigle


Moral Projects and Compromise Resistance: Resisting Uncaring in Non-Profit Care Work ~ Donna Baines


Austerity, Resistance and the Labour Movement ~ Helen Blakely and Steve Davies


Afterword: Final Word and the Path Forward – Is the Myth of Austerity Giving Way to Myth of the Robots Taking the Jobs? ~ Jill Rubery