Brave New Workplace

From offices to shops, schools, hospitals and mines, individual contracts are affecting employees throughout Australia.

Brave New Workplace addresses growing concerns with industrial relations changes in Australia

Once, employees knew they'd be paid properly for working nights and overtime and couldn't be dismissed on a whim. Unions made sure of this. Now employees are being asked to do their own bargaining, one on one. Employers and government claim that this will lead to higher productivity, while unions and church groups cry foul. What is really going on?

Brave New Workplace, a new book by labour-market academic Dr David Peetz, peels away the doublespeak to uncover what's really happening between employers and employees.

Dr Peetz says the push for individual contracts for employees overturns a century of collective efforts to create basic rights and a fair go in Australian workplaces. He explains who benefits from individual contracts and who doesn't, and how this will change the way we work.

Brave New Workplace positions individual contracts in a wider debate about whether we are moving away from collective ideals towards individualistic values.

ACTU Secretary Greg Combet has praised the book, saying: "The Australian Government is promoting individual contracts as the way forward for all Australian workplaces. David Peetz's research demonstrates clearly that individual contracts are the antithesis of modern, productive employment relationships".

According to Associate Professor Barbara Pocock, author of The Work/Life Collision: "David Peetz dissects the workplace world of dog eat dog with forensic skill. This book is essential, accessible reading for those who want to understand what individualism in the workplace means for workers and for Australian society".

Consider this comical exchange from Monty Python's Life of Brian film, and how it relates to the individual contract debate. Brian is addressing, in some frustration, a mistakenly adoring crowd:

Brian: You're all individuals!
Followers: Yes, we're all individuals!
Brian: You're all different!
Followers: Yes, we are all different!
Then a little voice at the back pipes up: 'I'm not!'

For more on this comparison,click here to read or download a chapter from Brave New Workplace

Brave New Workplace is published by Allen & Unwin and retails for $29.95.