scholarly journals Pathways to precarity: Work, financial insecurity and wage dependency among Australia’s retrenched auto workers

2020 ◽  
pp. 144078332092515
Author(s):  
Tom Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Home Ownership ◽  
Residual Effects ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Automotive Manufacturing ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
Auto Workers ◽  
Life Trajectories

Precarious work research has increasingly understood that precarity is not limited to poor job quality. However, this idea has received insufficient attention among older workers whose careers have been erased by retrenchment. The sense in which retrenched workers’ lives are co-determined by the residual effects of previous long-term careers has been under-studied. Through a study of the closure of Australia’s automotive manufacturing industry, this article shows how workers’ life trajectories were differentiated by benefits accrued through their long careers, including union-negotiated redundancy pay and wealth accumulated in home ownership. Retrenched workers adopted different positions on a continuum of wage dependency and household-scale financial security which insulated some from the negative effects of precarious work and relegated others to a pathway of rising precarity. This latter pathway is likely to become more important among older workers due to the disappearance of large-scale manual employment in secure, well-paying jobs.

scholarly journals Becoming Precarious? Precarious Work and Life Trajectories After Retrenchment

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 527-541
Author(s):  
Tom Barnes ◽  
Sally A. Weller
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Financial Security ◽  
Automotive Manufacturing ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
Life Trajectories ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Work And Life

Much of the large literature on precarious work has largely tended to assume that precarity is shaped by job quality: that precarious work leads to precarious lives. This paper adds to the literature by questioning this line of causality and highlighting the broader range of influences shaping the lives of older workers who enter precarious work after retrenchment from secure, long-term careers. Drawing on a study of Australia’s automotive manufacturing industry, which closed in 2017, this article finds that for older retrenched workers, exposure to precarious employment sharpened life precarity for some but did not lead to precarious lives for others. Instead of a uniform transition from security to precarity, these workers’ life trajectories diverged depending on their household-scale financial security. Key issues influencing the likelihood of older workers’ lives becoming precarious were enterprise benefits and asset wealth accumulated through their previous careers.

СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЕ КОНФЛИКТЫ В РАМКАХ «КАПИТАЛИЗМА ПЛАТФОРМ»

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
L. V. Tomin
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Corporate Control ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Communication Infrastructure ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Integrated Information

The article is devoted to the analysis of the structure, the peculiarities of functioning and the socio-economic and political effects of the «platform capitalism». The basis of this model is the network effects produced by the integrated information and communication infrastructure, which contribute to the monopolization and the constant expansion of platform companies into new areas. The principle of functioning of this infrastructure is the continuous collection and further monetization of data extracted from the interactions of individuals among themselves or with one of the elements of a digitalized economy or government structures. Such an infrastructure — forms a potential threat of strengthening state and corporate control over citizens. In addition, the activities of platform companies produce negative effects on the labor market, reinforcing the process of precarization of employment. The integrated information and communication infrastructure of platform companies form a system of a kind of «digital Taylorism», which deprives the employee of autonomy and privacy in the workplace. The influence of digitalization, subjected to the technocratic logic of the neoliberal model of governance in democratic countries, strengthens the de-politicization of relations between the citizen and the state and further changes the balance of power between labor and capital in favor of the latter. Large-scale protests of the last years against the companies of “capitalism of platforms” demonstrated the structural contradictions of this model and formed new forms of organization and actions of grassroots workers of the “digital economy”.

Towards Control of an Estuary

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 155-174
Author(s):  
Henk L. F. Saeijs
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Water ◽  
Storm Surge ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Oxygen Depletion ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Intertidal Flats ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Short Time

The Delta Project is in its final stage. In 1974 it was subjected to political reconsideration, but it is scheduled now for completion in 1987. The final touches are being put to the storm-surge barrier and two compartment dams that divide the Oosterschelde into three areas: one tidal, one with reduced tide, and one a freshwater lake. Compartmentalization will result in 13% of channels, 45% of intertidal flats and 59% of salt marshes being lost. There is a net gain of 7% of shallow-water areas. Human interventions with large scale impacts are not new in the Oosterschelde but the large scale and short time in which these interventions are taking place are, as is the creation of a controlled tidal system. This article focusses on the area with reduced tide and compares resent day and expected characteristics. In this reduced tidal part salt marshes will extend by 30–70%; intertidal flats will erode to a lower level and at their edges, and the area of shallow water will increase by 47%. Biomass production on the intertidal flats will decrease, with consequences for crustaceans, fishes and birds. The maximum number of waders counted on one day and the number of ‘bird-days' will decrease drastically, with negative effects for the wader populations of western Europe. The net area with a hard substratum in the reduced tidal part has more than doubled. Channels will become shallower. Detritus import will not change significantly. Stratification and oxygen depletion will be rare and local. The operation of the storm-surge barrier and the closure strategy chosen are very important for the ecosystem. Two optional closure strategies can be followed without any additional environmental consequences. It was essential to determine a clearly defined plan of action for the whole area, and to make land-use choices from the outset. How this was done is briefly described.

scholarly journals Strategic deployment of riparian buffers and windbreaks in Europe can co-deliver biomass and environmental benefits

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oskar Englund ◽  
Pål Börjesson ◽  
Blas Mola-Yudego ◽  
Göran Berndes ◽  
Ioannis Dimitriou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Riparian Buffers ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Nitrogen Emissions ◽  
Environmental Objectives ◽  
Eu Policies

AbstractWithin the scope of the new Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, in coherence with other EU policies, new incentives are developed for farmers to deploy practices that are beneficial for climate, water, soil, air, and biodiversity. Such practices include establishment of multifunctional biomass production systems, designed to reduce environmental impacts while providing biomass for food, feed, bioenergy, and other biobased products. Here, we model three scenarios of large-scale deployment for two such systems, riparian buffers and windbreaks, across over 81,000 landscapes in Europe, and quantify the corresponding areas, biomass output, and environmental benefits. The results show that these systems can effectively reduce nitrogen emissions to water and soil loss by wind erosion, while simultaneously providing substantial environmental co-benefits, having limited negative effects on current agricultural production. This kind of beneficial land-use change using strategic perennialization is important for meeting environmental objectives while advancing towards a sustainable bioeconomy.

scholarly journals Social and environmental correlates of rat complaints in Chicago

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia A Sánchez ◽  
María Jazmín Rios ◽  
Maureen H Murray
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Home Ownership ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Environmental Correlates ◽  
Growing Rat ◽  
Commercial Sources

Abstract Urban rats are widely distributed pests that have negative effects on public health and property. It is crucial to understand their distribution to inform control efforts and address drivers of rat presence. Analysing public rat complaints can help assess urban rat distribution and identify factors supporting rat populations. Both social and environmental factors could promote rat complaints and must be integrated to understand rat distributions. We analysed rat complaints made between 2011 and 2017 in Chicago, a city with growing rat problems and stark wealth inequality. We examined whether rat complaints at the census tract level are associated with factors that could influence rat abundance, rats’ visibility to humans, and the likelihood of people making a complaint. Complaints were significantly positively correlated with anthropogenic factors hypothesized to promote rat abundance (restaurants, older buildings, garbage complaints, and dog waste complaints) or rat visibility (building construction/demolition activity), and factors hypothesized to increase the likelihood of complaining (human population density, more owner-occupied homes); we also found that complaints were highest in the summer. Our results suggest that conflicts between residents and rats are mainly driven by seasonal variation in rat abundance and human activity and could be mitigated with strategies such as securing food waste from residential and commercial sources. Accounting for social factors such as population density, construction and demolition activity, and home ownership versus rental can also help cities more accurately predict blocks at higher risk of rat conflicts.

scholarly journals Spatial Agglomeration of China’s Forest Products Manufacturing Industry: Measurement, Characteristics and Determinants

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1006
Author(s):  
Zhenhuan Chen ◽  
Hongge Zhu ◽  
Wencheng Zhao ◽  
Menghan Zhao ◽  
Yutong Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Spatial Data Analysis ◽  
Forest Protection ◽  
Spatial Agglomeration ◽  
Continuous Space

China’s forest products manufacturing industry is experiencing the dual pressure of forest protection policies and wood scarcity and, therefore, it is of great significance to reveal the spatial agglomeration characteristics and evolution drivers of this industry to enhance its sustainable development. Based on the perspective of large-scale agglomeration in a continuous space, in this study, we used the spatial Gini coefficient and standard deviation ellipse method to investigate the spatial agglomeration degree and location distribution characteristics of China’s forest products manufacturing industry, and we used exploratory spatial data analysis to investigate its spatial agglomeration pattern. The results show that: (1) From 1988 to 2018, the degree of spatial agglomeration of China’s forest products manufacturing industry was relatively low, and the industry was characterized by a very pronounced imbalance in its spatial distribution. (2) The industry has a very clear core–periphery structure, the spatial distribution exhibits a “northeast-southwest” pattern, and the barycenter of the industrial distribution has tended to move south. (3) The industry mainly has a high–high and low–low spatial agglomeration pattern. The provinces with high–high agglomeration are few and concentrated in the southeast coastal area. (4) The spatial agglomeration and evolution characteristics of China’s forest products manufacturing industry may be simultaneously affected by forest protection policies, sources of raw materials, international trade and the degree of marketization. In the future, China’s forest products manufacturing industry should further increase the level of spatial agglomeration to fully realize the economies of scale.

Risk Factors for a Positive Hepatitis C Status in Fishermen in Kuantan Malaysia

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-237
Author(s):  
Priya Lall ◽  
Rumana Saifi ◽  
Diva Baggio ◽  
Samantha Fitzsimmons Schoenberger ◽  
Martin Choo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatitis C ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Adjusted Odds Ratio ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Risk Taking Behaviors ◽  
Risk Communities

Malaysia currently has an estimated hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence of 1.3% with an infected population of 384,000. Fishermen in Malaysia are at risk of HCV infection due to injection drug use and disproportionately high rates of incarceration. This study used quantitative data from Project WAVES, a large-scale mixed methods project charting environmental drivers of risk-taking behaviors among a respondent-driven sample of 406 fishermen in Malaysia. Over a quarter of participants (27.9%) reported injecting drugs in the past month; 49.8% of the sample tested positive for HCV. Respondents who had previously been arrested displayed increased odds of being HCV-positive (adjusted odds ratio = 4.79, confidence Interval = 2.46-9.35). Participants who reported being in lock-up displayed close to 6-fold odds of being HCV-infected (adjusted odds ratio = 5.49, confidence interval = 2.77-10.90, P < .001). These findings underscore the need for policies and structural interventions targeting the negative effects of aggressive incarceration contributing to the burden of HCV among high-risk communities.

Extended Geometric Filter for Reconstruction as a Basis for Computational Inspection

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Miropolsky ◽  
Anath Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Computer Model ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Digital Design ◽  
Reconstruction Methods ◽  
Object Based ◽  
Inspection Process ◽  
Important Quality ◽  
Scan Data

The inspection of machined objects is one of the most important quality control tasks in the manufacturing industry. Contemporary scanning technologies have provided the impetus for the development of computational inspection methods, where the computer model of the manufactured object is reconstructed from the scan data, and then verified against its digital design model. Scan data, however, are typically very large scale (i.e., many points), unorganized, noisy, and incomplete. Therefore, reconstruction is problematic. To overcome the above problems the reconstruction methods may exploit diverse feature data, that is, diverse information about the properties of the scanned object. Based on this concept, the paper proposes a new method for denoising and reduction in scan data by extended geometric filter. The proposed method is applied directly on the scanned points and is automatic, fast, and straightforward to implement. The paper demonstrates the integration of the proposed method into the framework of the computational inspection process.

Foreign Trade of Russia: Barometer Foretells Storm

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-25
Author(s):  
V. Obolenskiy
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Import Substitution ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Effective System ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Developed Countries

The development of Russian foreign trade during the previous five years is analyzed. It is stated that, in terms of value, exports of services and imports of goods and services steadily grew during the first four years of the period under review. Exports of goods also rose during three years, but in 2014 both exports and imports again fell in comparison with the previous year as was the case five years ago. The composition of the Russian exports and imports of goods did not change radically during the previous years. The main items of export are, as always, mineral products, metals and fertilizers. Import is prevailed by foodstuffs, chemicals and heavy engineering equipment. The current situation is featured by the reduction of world oil prices, slump of the domestic economy and war of sanctions with the Western countries. All this substantially impairs the conditions of Russia’s foreign trade activities and inhibits its development in the upcoming years. In the author’s view, the implementation of measures worked out by the government – correction of tariff liabilities before the WTO, redirecting of trade streams from the European to the Asian markets, import substitution and export support – will unlikely improve the situation. Revision of the liabilities before the WTO in the conditions of the decrease of the internal demand and serious devaluation of Ruble is considered as inappropriate and counterproductive. “Asiatic turn” is only capable to compensate to a certain respect the loss of supplies of some food products from Europe, but cannot fully offset the loss of potentialities of the acquisition of modern technologies and equipment from the developed countries. It is doubtful that it will be possible to dramatically cut the import dependence. It is necessary to replace many kinds of foreign goods, but it is impossible to implement a frontal substitution of import in all directions. Excessive stress on the import substitution might lead to the emergence of shortages and poorer availability of some goods at the internal market and, at the worst, to self-isolation and economic autarky. The attempts to build up an effective system of export support might be successful only in the conditions of the establishment of the large-scale production of goods and services which would be comparable with the foreign analogues in respect to the criteria of price and quality. Taking this into consideration the technological renovation of production processes, first of all in the manufacturing industry, and on this basis rising up of the competitiveness of plants and factories are the most important prerequisites for encouraging export activities and formation of the new export specialization of the country.

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