Media Release
October 27
True stories of Australia’s working poor –
new book uncovers the dark side of the lucky country
The
doom and gloom on the global economic front has everyone giving the
notion of a prosperous Australia a second thought. But for a growing
number of Australia’s “working poor” surviving on the edge of society is
a way of life.
In the latest book to come out of UniSA’s Centre for Work and Life, authors Dr Helen Masterman-Smith (Charles Sturt University) and Professor Barbara Pocock discover the flip side of Australia’s economic prosperity – people working hard on low wages and with poor conditions.
The book, Living Low Paid: the Dark Side of Prosperous Australia will be published by Allen & Unwin in November 2008 and launched in Adelaide at Imprints Bookseller by the Federal Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek on Tuesday October 28 at 4.45 pm.
Arising from a study, “Low Paid Services Employment in Australia: Dimensions, Causes, Effects and Responses” undertaken from 2004 to 2008 by the Centre for Work and Life, the book presents first hand accounts of the lives of the working poor in Australia.
The study analysed the lived experience of Australians working in the childcare, commercial cleaning and luxury hotel sectors and examined the effects of low pay on Australian workers, households, and the national social and economic fabric. It included interviews and focus groups with 138 low paid workers and service providers in NSW, Victoria and SA and was funded through an Australian Research Council Linkage grant and also by project partners: the Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Unions NSW, SA Unions and the Victorian Trades Hall Council.
“Living Low Paid challenges the low wage path to national prosperity by exposing the hard realities of living low-paid for Australian workers, and their families and communities, today,” Dr Masterman-Smith says.
“In a global context, despite the international economic downturn, Australia is still a prosperous country – yet many of us struggle to make ends meet, even with a regular job.”
Professor Pocock says the book is an effort to present more than just cold facts.
“Through their own words, workers present a picture of the real costs of low pay for individuals, families and communities and the social fabric at large,” Prof Pocock says.
“Undermined by casualisation, outsourcing, hours of work and exploitative pay setting methods - with many job entitlements such as sick pay, holiday pay and penalty rates being scrapped - workers’ bargaining power has been eroded.”
Living Low Paid offers a biting account of Australia’s growing underbelly. It is vital reading for anyone who cares about where Australia is heading. More information is available at the publisher’s website
About the authors: Dr Helen Masterman-Smith lectures in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Charles Sturt University. Professor Barbara Pocock is Director of the Centre for Work and Life in the Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies at UniSA and is the author of The Labour Market Ate My Babies and The Work/Life Collision.
Contacts for interview
- Dr Helen Masterman-Smith mobile 403 766 996
- Professor Barbara Pocock mobile 0414 244 606
Media contact
- UniSA - Michèle Nardell office (08) 8302 0966 mobile 0418 823 673 email michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au
-
Allen & Unwin - Andrew Hawkins, Publicity Director office (02)
8425 0140 mobile 0418 425 611
email andrewh@allenandunwin.com