Examine the reasons and implications of the decline of trade unions in Essay

Examine the reasons and implications of the decline of trade unions in Australia - Essay Example The greatest decline of trade unionism however occurred in the 1990s and was attributable to a combination of government and employer policies which have resulted in a populace focused on free enterprise rather than collectivism. Trade unions by definition are an organized body established to principally negotiate pay rates and employment conditions on behalf of its members; such bodies generally comprise a collective of workers who are separately and jointly assigned as representatives of its members in dealing with management (Aktaruzzaman, 2006). In other words their purpose is to protect their members by improving and maintaining their employment conditions and keeping non-unionists out of the labour market (Time of our lives, 102). The problem with this model of representation however, is that empowerment is taken from the people under representation; they become passive observers while trade union reps solve problems on their behalf exterior to the workplace environment. Trade unions are also part of government structure in much the same way as political parties and thus must adhere to the laws of government and democracy. Support from trade unions towards governments however, wavers in accordance with the level of shared labour market goals and the extent to which they can increase power (Johns, 2002). They are astute at â€Å"positioning themselves in civil society† (Johns, 2002, p.3) but are weighted with their involvement with government by being placed alongside government as the primary cause of its own demise. This was never more evident than when they worked in support of the Labour government to lay the way for an economy that was more open and included enterprise bargaining (Johns, 2002). Employment conditions within Australia were primarily decided by state and federal awards that opted in favour of union members but the situation changed after 1986 whereupon awards were changed, enterprise bargaining came into existence and agreements w ith non-union members were provided for collectives (Bowden, 2009). Late in the 1980s awards were restructured (Bowden, ), and starting with Keating’s Industrial regulations Reform Act 1993 that introduced enterprise bargaining, followed by Howard’s Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cranston, 2000; Caspersz, 2007) that provided for individual workplace agreements (Bowden, 2009) as well as collective agreements between employees and companies (Johns, 2002), and then a further amendment in 2006, it seems that government support for unions has disappeared (Sappey, Burgess, Lyons & Buultjens, 2006, cited in Caspersz, 2007, p.3). Added to this, the majority of Australian states implemented laws to stop compulsory membership of unions in order to make the transition from award systems to those focused on individual enterprise and bargaining more effortless, and later the federal government under Howard brought obligatory membership to an end (Leigh, 2005). Such legislations crea ted a massive exodus of union members who were then given choice rather than obligation to pay their union dues. Trade unions during this time faced massive changes in terms of legislative deregulation of the labour market (Cranston, 2000) which in turn affected the financial and economical sectors of the

Explore the idea of historical embeddedness in The Brief Wondrous Life Research Paper

Explore the idea of historical embeddedness in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Research Paper Example The narrator therefore wonders if writing this novel is his own way of saying zafa. Every body seems to be cursed! The first chapter, which happens in 1974 to1987 in Paterson, details Oscar’s childhood and early adolescence. For one week when he is seven, Oscar dates two girls, Olga and Maritza, at the same period. However, the threesome momentarily falls apart and the life of Oscar goes downhill from then onwards. In adolescence, he was fat, dorky, and unattractive. His interest in Genre creates him even more unattractive, and his only true friends are Miggs and Al. Oscar’s sister Lola try to encourage him to lose weight to be more masculine for him to land a girlfriend, but Oscar does not regard their advice. When Miggs and Al find girlfriends and purposely dessert him out, Oscar realizes that they even contemplate that he is a failure. Oscar goes to Santo Domingo to visit Nena Inca, and starts writing science fiction as a channel. When Oscar returns he finds a girl c alled Ana Obregon at SAT prep class, instantly falling in love with her. Oscar and Ana become good friends, but never physically intimately attached. Eventually Ana’s boyfriend named Manny returns from an army mission and Ana stops having time with Oscar. Afterward, Oscar goes to Rutgers for college. He hopes life in college may be different, but in there, he realizes that still he is a loser. Oscar, the character who collects the novel together, justly perceives himself as a doubly marginalized figure. A Dominican-American boy growing up in Paterson during the 80s, he is hampered by counter-stereotypical nerdiness in addition to problems of racism and social class. Bashful, precocious, and overweight, Oscar is well versed in Marvel comics and "Japanimation" lore. His ambition is to write a space fictional. A Dominican accent manipulates "Wilde" into "Wao" wile in college. Yunior (Solis 49), his college roommate and best friend, does not quite apprehend Oscar, however loves h im and sees that there something is within Oscar that needs to be known. As the key narrator of the story, Yunior provides a loving portrayal of a tortured person within a tortured family. Redemption of Oscar â€Å"brief wondrous life† manifests at a momentous, but justified, price. Told from the viewpoint of Oscar’s sister Lola with his best friend Yunior, the story of the search for revitalization leads the reader through some of the darkest junctions of a country under severe dictatorial control. Lola pursues her own redemption, far away from her family, particularly her mother and her heritage. She only loves her younger brother Oscar and seeks protecting him from the curse which is tragically affecting their family. Saying that Hapatia Belicia was born to hard era would be an understatement. Beli’s mother died when she was only two months old, never met her father, held by her sisters a few times before they disappeared too, and spent no time in Casa Hatuey . Beli had multiple things sailing against her from the beginning of her pathetic life. She was born sick and underweight, at a time and environment where it would be difficult for any newborn to survive with her accompanied situation. She was also dark skinned, a reason that made her father’s family to absolutely dislike anything to do with her. At this juncture, her life is saved uniquely by a single woman’