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"This book explores the precarious margins of contemporary labour markets. Over the last few decades, there has been much discussion of a shift from full-time permanent jobs to higher levels of part-time and temporary employment and self-employment. Despite such attention, regulatory approaches have not adapted accordingly. Instead, in the absence of genuine alternatives, old regulatory models are applied to new labour market realities, leaving the most precarious forms of employment intact. The book places this disjuncture in historical context and focuses on its implications for those most likely to be at the margins, particularly women and migrant workers. Managing the Margins provides a rigorous analysis drawing on original qualitative and quantitative material. It innovates by analyzing the historical and contemporary interplay of employment norms, gender relations, and citizenship boundaries. "

"Toute réflexion sur l'amiante débouche sur une question lancinante : pourquoi a-t-on attendu si longtemps ? Les premières alertes ont été lancées il y a plus d'un siècle. Les connaissances médicales justifiaient l'interdiction de l'amiante au moins dès 1960. Les estimations du nombre de victimes varient suivant les sources. Il reste indiscutable que plusieurs millions de décès auraient pu être évités.
L'industrie de l'amiante s'est défendue en affirmant qu'elle ne disposait pas de données suffisantes sur les risques. L'étude historique détaillée de McCullock et Tweedale, déjà auteurs de plusieurs ouvrages sur le sujet, démonte cet argument. L'ouvrage est surtout consacré aux trois entreprises anglo-saxonnes les plus importantes du secteur : Johns-Mansville, Turner & Newall et Cape Asbestos. Le quatrième géant, le groupe européen Eternit, est traité moins systématiquement, de même qu'un cinquième acteur majeur, à côté de cette "bande des quatre" : l'Etat soviétique, qui a assuré presque 40 % de la production mondiale d'amiante au cours du XXe siècle.
Il faut remonter aux années 30 pour comprendre le système de défense mis en place par les entreprises productrices d'amiante. C'était l'époque des premières actions judiciaires aux Etats-Unis, intentées par des travailleurs malades d'asbestose. D'emblée, l'industrie décide de prendre les devants. A défaut de prévention, elle va orienter, suivant ses intérêts, la recherche médicale. Elle met en place en 1935 une Fondation pour l'Hygiène de l'Air. Cette fondation organise aux Etats-Unis une coopération systématique entre les entreprises et un certain nombre d'institutions universitaires. Elle apparaît comme un modèle d'initiatives ultérieures que l'on retrouve aujourd'hui encore aux quatre coins du monde. Il s'agit tout à la fois d'étudier les conditions de travail dans les industries concernées ; de proposer des mesures d'usage contrôlé, notamment par l'adoption de valeurs-limites ; de faire du lobbying auprès des autorités publiques ; de donner une couverture scientifique à un travail de propagande destiné à minimiser l'ampleur des risques. Quelques strapontins accordés à des syndicalistes complètent parfois le montage.
L'industrie disposait de données précises concernant les maladies causées par l'amiante bien plus tôt que les autorités publiques. Entre 1929 et 1935, les études commissionnées par l'industrie indiquent qu'environ la moitié des travailleurs occupés dans les mines d'amiante ou des entreprises textiles d'amiante seront victimes d'une maladie grave. Consciente de la gravité de la situation pour l'avenir de ses profits, l'industrie construit deux mythes.
Le premier prétend que l'asbestose est inexistante dans les mines canadiennes d'amiante. Pour les industriels, il suffit d'observer des règles élémentaires d'hygiène industrielle pour éliminer le risque. Le second prétend que l'asbestose est une maladie nettement moins dangereuse que la silicose. Par conséquent, inutile d'adopter une législation contraignante.
A partir des années 40, le lien entre l'amiante et le cancer du poumon commence à être mis en évidence. En 1940, le Dr Leroy Gardner fait inhaler des fibres d'amiante à des souris blanches ; 80 % d'entre elles développent un cancer pulmonaire. Les résultats sont communiqués à un des géants de l'amiante, Johns-Manville, qui se garde bien de les rendre publics.
La recherche commanditée par les entreprises ne porte pas uniquement sur des animaux de laboratoire. Les chercheurs disposent également de cobayes humains. Des dizaines de milliers de travailleurs exposés à l'amiante font l'objet d'études répétées pendant plusieurs dizaines d'années. Outre les fonds indispensables fournis par les entreprises, il y a là une "ressource humaine" gérée comme un patrimoine par les groupes industriels et rendue accessible à certains chercheurs ou refusée à d'autres, plus critiques et plus indépendants. Cela contribue à expliquer la relation presque symbiotique entre des épidémiologistes prestigieux comme Richard Doll et l'industrie de l'amiante.
Aux premières études concernant le mésothéliome, l'industrie réagit par la construction d'un nouveau mythe : celui de la relative innocuité du chrysotile parmi les différentes variétés d'amiante. Un document interne de la section d'Amérique du Nord de l'Association internationale de l'amiante indique explicitement en 1973 qu'il faut "commencer à raconter l'histoire du chrysotile et à discréditer les autres fibres".
Le chapitre final est amer. L'un après l'autre, les mythes de l'industrie ont été discrédités. Et pourtant, depuis une quinzaine d'années, la production d'amiante s'est stabilisée au niveau mondial. L'industrie a réussi à se reconvertir. A l'exception des anciennes républiques soviétiques, l'utilisation de l'amiante a été presque totalement éliminée dans les pays industrialisés mais elle s'intensifie en Asie. A la différence des époques précédentes, la croisade pour l'amiante repose désormais plus sur des Etats que sur l'industrie. Elle est guidée par le Canada et soutenue énergiquement par le Brésil, la Russie et la Chine. — Laurent Vogel"

"Does flexible working really provide a better work-life balance? Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, flexible working has become the norm for many workers. This volume offers an original examination of flexible working using data from 30 European countries and drawing on studies conducted in Australia, the US and India. Rather than providing a better work-life balance, the book reveals how flexible working can lead to exploitation, which manifests differently for women and men, such as more care responsibilities or increased working hours. Taking a critical stance, this book investigates the potential risks and benefits of flexible working and provides crucial policy recommendations for overcoming the negative consequences."

"Taking readers through the nature and realities of employee voice across the Global North, this book identifies the significance and effects of contexts, cultures, web and social media, and dissimilarity of institutional factors in enhancing employee voice or promoting silence. It addresses general issues affecting employee voice across the globe to give readers an understanding of employee relations that is country-specific. Readers will also have an understanding of the unique nature of employee voice in three continents – thus broadening the readers' understanding of the subject. Covering employee voice in different countries of Europe, North America and Australasia, each chapter draws out the unique and diverse nature of employee voice in each country. The chapters discuss issues ranging from culture, activities of trade union, institutional factors, web and social media, social and organisational justice and their effects of employee voice.

This book provides an invaluable resource for students and researchers of human resources and international business. It will also be of great interest to HRM practitioners, policymakers and business managers across the globe."

"This book exposes how inequalities based on class and social background arise from employment practices in the digital age. It considers instances where social media is used in hiring to infiltrate private lives and hide job advertisements based on locality; where algorithms assess socio-economic data to filter candidates; where human interviewers are replaced by artificial intelligence with design that disadvantages users of classed language; and where already vulnerable groups become victims of digitalisation and remote work.

The author examines whether these practices create risks of discrimination based on certain protected attributes, including "social origin" in international labour law and laws in Australia and South Africa, "social condition" and "family status" in laws within Canada, and others. The book proposes essential law reform and improvements to workplace policy."

"The digital transformation of social security administration and services is complex and mul tifaceted. It requires careful consideration of various factors, such as the legal and regulatory frameworks, technological infrastructure, and social and cultural norms. This comparative anal ysis examines the digital transformation of social security administration and services in four countries - Australia, Canada, Denmark, and France - and identifies the key drivers, challenges, and key lessons learned."

"Workers in many industries are frequently exposed to hot weather conditions. To protect workers' health and safety, it is important to evaluate the existing heat-related policies practiced in workplaces in accordance with national guidelines. We used a case study design to evaluate the existing heat-related policies of a large construction company and five of its subcontractors according to the guidelines provided by safe work Australia (SWA). We used snowball sampling to acquire documents from the companies. The retrieved documents were analysed thematically using the framework approach. The main guidance themes and categories were developed deductively based on “the guide for working in heat” provided by SWA. The data was interpreted and summarized. Our results suggest that all policies advised on some administrative control measures, safe work practices for workers, use of personal protective equipment, and emergency response plans. The majority of policies focus on administrative control measures, which may not be practicable at all times and are not a high level of health and safety control if implemented alone. The policies do not comprehensively cover some most important aspects of heat stress management such as consultation with workers, risk assessment of heat hazard, promoting training and awareness programs among workers, and reviewing and evaluating control measures and heat stress incidents. Priorities for heat-related policy development include an increased emphasis on preparation and planning for hot weather in consultation with workers, along with considering location-specific, workplace, and individual risk factors in assessing the heat hazard at the workplace."

"Introduction
The costs of global warming are substantial. These include expenses from occupational illnesses and injuries (OIIs), which have been associated with increases during heatwaves. This study estimated retrospective and projected future heatwave-attributable OIIs and their costs in Australia.
Materials and methods
Climate and workers' compensation claims data were extracted from seven Australian capital cities representing OIIs from July 2005 to June 2018. Heatwaves were defined using the Excess Heat Factor. OIIs and associated costs were estimated separately per city and pooled to derive national estimates. Results were projected to 2030 (2016–2045) and 2050 (2036–2065).
Results
The risk of OIIs and associated costs increased during heatwaves, with the risk increasing during severe and particularly extreme heatwaves. Of all OIIs, 0.13% (95% empirical confidence interval [eCI]: 0.11–0.16%) were heatwave-attributable, equivalent to 120 (95%eCI:70–181) OIIs annually. 0.25% of costs were heatwave-attributable (95%eCI: 0.18–0.34%), equal to $AU4.3 (95%eCI: 1.4–7.4) million annually. Estimates of heatwave-attributable OIIs by 2050, under Representative Concentration Pathway [RCP]4.5 and RCP8.5, were 0.17% (95%eCI: 0.10–0.27%) and 0.23% (95%eCI: 0.13–0.37%), respectively. National costs estimates for 2030 under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 were 0.13% (95%eCI: 0.27-0.46%) and 0.04% (95%eCI: 0.66-0.60), respectively. These estimates for extreme heatwaves were 0.04% (95%eCI: 0.02–0.06%) and 0.04% (95%eCI: 0.01–0.07), respectively. Cost-AFs in 2050 were, under RCP4.5, 0.127% (95%eCI: 0.27-0.46) for all heatwaves and 0.04% (95%eCI: 0.01-0.09%) for extreme heatwaves. Attributable fractions were approximately similar to baseline when assuming theoretical climate adaptation."

"Workplace gender inequality remains a major cause of workplace and employment disadvantage for women, particularly in traditionally male-dominated industries. We draw on a study of the Australian transport and logistics industry to examine the conundrum that despite growing awareness of, pressure against, and supposedly increasing policy action against workplace gender inequality, little progress has been made over many decades. This study is premised on the view that understanding, and addressing, the root cause is the key to effective solutions. We applied Wynn's executive ideology on gender inequality theoretical framework to investigate the core factors sustaining workplace gender inequalities in the industry. We find that particular unconscious biased executive conceptualisations of workplace gender inequalities shape organisational gender policies. Consequently, instead of eradicating, they reinforce and reproduce embedded attitudes and processes through the policies they adopt. We argue that to effectively address workplace gender inequality, it is the organisation and the industry, rather than the individual and society that must be the primary focus of executive strategy and action."

"The labour and co-operative movements are collective organisations that have similar roots and share a strong emphasis on democratic practices that seek to ensure the best for their community. There is both alignment and tensions in their relationship. Consumer co-operatives have supported unions and provided support to striking workers. However, co-operatives are also businesses that need to ensure financial survival. This has the potential to place co-operatives in conflict with organised labour particularly regarding labour costs. Workers may also have greater commitment to the organisation given that they are also part owners, particularly in the case of worker co-operatives. The co-operative ideal of “political neutrality” has also complicated the relationship between co-operatives and the labour movement. This paper will focus on some areas of alignment and tension between the labour movement and consumer retail and worker co-operatives drawing primarily on the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, UK and US experience."'