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Labour Commodification in the Employment Heartland: Union Responses to Teachers’ Temporary Work

Author

Listed:
  • Susan McGrath-Champ

    (The University of Sydney, Australia)

  • Scott Fitzgerald

    (Curtin University, Australia)

  • Mihajla Gavin

    (University of Technology Sydney, Australia)

  • Meghan Stacey

    (University of New South Wales, Australia)

  • Rachel Wilson

    (The University of Sydney, Australia)

Abstract

This article analyses the commodification of professional labour and union responses to these processes within the employment heartland. It explores the category of fixed-contract or ‘temporary’ employment using Australian public school teaching as the empirical lens. Established to address intensifying conditions of labour market insecurity, the union-led creation of the temporary category was intended to partly decommodify labour by providing intermediate security between permanent and ‘casual’ employment. However, using historical case and contemporary survey data, we discern that escalation of temporary teacher numbers and intensifying work-effort demands concurrently increased insecurity within the teacher workforce, constituting recommodification. The article contributes to scant literature on unions and commodification, highlighting that within the current marketised context, labour commodification may occur through contradictory influences at multiple levels, and that union responses to combat this derogation of work must similarly be multi-level and sustained.

Suggested Citation

  • Susan McGrath-Champ & Scott Fitzgerald & Mihajla Gavin & Meghan Stacey & Rachel Wilson, 2023. "Labour Commodification in the Employment Heartland: Union Responses to Teachers’ Temporary Work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(5), pages 1165-1185, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:37:y:2023:i:5:p:1165-1185
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170211069854
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hyman, Richard & Gumbrell-McCormick, Rebecca, 2017. "Resisting labour market insecurity: old and new actors, rivals or allies?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 84658, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    Cited by:

    1. Nana Wesley Hansen, 2024. "Script Adaptation: Understanding Continuity in Local Cooperation after Sector-Level Conflict over Teachers’ Working Time," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(6), pages 1591-1610, December.
    2. Jeremy Aroles & Kevin Morrell, 2025. "Marketisation and the Public Good: A Typology of Responses among Museum Professionals," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 39(1), pages 226-247, February.

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