Casual Workers Research Articles

Casual Accounting Academics' Sense of Dignity and Inclusion in the Workplace

ABSTRACTThe delivery of accounting higher education in Australia has been heavily dependent on casual academic staff in light of increased enrolments of national and international students. Although research to date has emphasized the demanding aspects of casual teaching and the need for improvements to the working conditions of casual academics, little is known about casual academics lived experiences and the way they develop ethical understanding of their day-to-day working conditions. We provide in-depth empirical evidence about casual accounting academics employment experiences in Australian universities and highlight the factors that support and/or inhibit casual academics' sense of inclusion and dignity in the workplace. Using “workplace dignity” as our theoretical framework, we find that the stage of the casual academics' career and their aspirations for academia impact their views and experiences of dignity and inclusion in the workplace.

The Differential Impacts of Contingent Employment on Fertility: Evidence from Australia

Abstract Many studies have reported evidence of negative associations between fixed-term contract employment and fertility. With few exceptions, these studies assume that employment status is exogenous and thus results are likely biased. Furthermore, previous research has mostly not considered whether the effects of employment status on fertility might vary with other worker characteristics. We draw on nineteen years of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey to investigate the causal effect of contingent forms of employment (including both fixed-term and casual employment) on first births, and how that effect varies with selected worker characteristics. The issue of endogeneity is addressed through the use of instrumental variables estimation. Our main finding is that both fixed-term contracts and casual employment lead to a significantly lower probability of first births among men, with the effect of fixed-term contracts being almost as twice as large as the effect of casual employment. We also find that these negative fertility effects vary with workers’ education, occupational status, country of origin, age, and relationship status. In the case of women, one of the instruments fails to satisfy the exclusion restriction, suggesting endogeneity remains a concern when analyzing female fertility outcomes.

Job Satisfaction of Non-Teaching Its Relationship to University Policies and Leadership Styles Linked to Their Performance: Based for Proposed Program

Abstract: This study endeavored to determine work competence and job satisfaction of non-teaching personnel at Taguig City University and to formulate a proposed training program. A total of one hundred twenty-one (121) non-teaching staffs as respondents was drawn using purposive sampling technique. It employed descriptive method of research with emphasis on survey method using a researcher-made instrument. Further, it sought to answer the questions on demographic profile, work competence, and level of job satisfaction. The frequencies, percentages, weighted means, ANOVA, and chi-square were the statistical measures utilized. Results revealed that there was only a slight difference as to their sex due to very close interval. Half of the respondents are college graduate and most of them have a casual employment status with the range of 1-3 years in service. The study also found out that work competence level of non-teaching personnel was competent when it comes to oral, written communication and information communication technology. Also, they are highly competent when it comes to work ethics. On the other hand, job satisfactions of non-teaching personnel are highly satisfied in supervision, nature of work, interpersonal relationship and commitment. Furthermore, results showed that age affects the work competence level in terms of information and communication technology, work ethics and written communication while the civil status affects their work competence level in oral communication, written communication and information and communication technology. However, level of work competence in terms of information and communication technology, oral communication, written communication and work ethics do not depend on their sex. Also, their level of work competence in terms of oral communication, information and communication technology, work ethics and written communication depends on their educational attainment. Moreover, length of service does not affect their work competence level in terms of written communication, information and information technology and work ethics. But, the work competence in oral and written communication depends on their employment status and among the seven variables on job satisfaction, work competence does not depend on salary. Keywords: Work Competence, Job Satisfaction, Training P

Does Labour Market Discriminate Against the Scheduled Castes? Empirical Evidence from Rural Punjab, India

Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes are the two most marginalized sections of Indian society that suffered discrimination through the ages. The government of India since independence has adopted various policy measures to remove the atrocities and discrimination against them. The present study attempts to understand whether or not the Scheduled Castes in rural Punjab continue to suffer from economic discrimination on account of their social attribute—caste—even after seven decades of independence. The nature of caste-based economic discrimination in the labour market of rural Punjab is examined using NSSO’s employment-unemployment data. The analyses support the existence of differences in occupational choices and wage differential among the caste groups. The SC households earn relatively low wages than the non-SC in rural Punjab. The SC workers are engaged in low-status and low-rewarding traditional caste occupations. The probability of SC workers choosing casual work is relatively greater than that of non-SC workers in rural Punjab.

Dock Labour and a Connected History of Workers in Early Twentieth Century Calcutta


 
 
 This article argues that class formation and labour radicalism in the industrial cities of colonial India need to be located in connected histories of workers, which go beyond analysis of single industries. It shows that the horizontal mobility of workers in early twentieth-century Calcutta was a result of a pervasiveness of casual work, both among the ‘unskilled’ and the skilled. Skill levels and occupations were crucial in defining the boundaries of not one, as is frequently posited, but several labour pools. It was in this form that the reserve army of labour was ever-present in the city, which gave workers networks beyond one workplace, one neighborhood and frequently, even one industry. The special role of segments of skilled workers has rarely been studied in relation to labour militancy and politics. The article sustains an emphasis on the role of industrial centres, such as the docklands, through which a high degree of interconnectedness across industrial processes in terms of shared occupations and skills across several industries and neighborhoods, can be excavated and mapped onto episodes of labour militancy. The neighbourhood, the trade unions, and nationalist events have all hitherto been studied to understand the shaping of workers’ protest. This article, by contrast, focuses on other crucial elements: the workplace and the industrial processes, which tied workers together in concrete, everyday, and proximate relationships.
 
 

Risk and protective factors associated with health risk behaviours among school learners in Western Cape, South Africa

BackgroundHealth risk behaviour is rife among school learners in the Western Cape province. This paper assesses risk and protective factors related to health risk behaviours among high school learners. Method: Longitudinal data were sourced from 2950, 2675 and 2230 at Time 0, Time 1 and Time 2 among grade 8 learners aged 13–18 years between 2012 and 2013. Health risk behaviours were assessed on alcohol consumption, smoking cannabis in the past six months, and ever having sexual intercourse. The sociodemographic variables examined were age, sex, residence, socioeconomic status (SES), family structure and population group. Contextual variables studied were the feeling of learners about the intervention program, participation in religious activities, paid casual work and school sports. Descriptive statistics, bivariate associations and binary logistic analyses predicting health risk behaviours were carried out using generalized linear mixed models after restructuring the data collected at different time points.ResultHealth risk behaviours increased consistently for alcohol consumption (25.7–42.7%), smoking cannabis (10.4–22.1%) and (22.3–36.0%) engaging in sexual intercourse. Increasing age emerged as a risk factor for all the health risk behaviours: alcohol consumption [OR:1.3 (1.2–1.4), p < 0.001]; smoking cannabis [OR:1.3 (1.2–1.4), p < 0.001] and had sex [OR:1.5 (1.4–1.7), p < 0.001]. Participation in paid casual work also predicted health risk behaviour: alcohol use [OR:1.5 (1.2–1.8), p < 0.001]; smoking cannabis [OR:1.3 (1.0-1.7), p < 0.05] and sex [OR:1.4 (1.1–1.7), p < 0.01]. High SES and feelings about the EPEP programme enhanced alcohol consumption and smoking cannabis. Smoking cannabis was augmented by residing in an urban area. Participation in school sports was associated with increased alcohol consumption and engaging in sexual intercourse. Participation in religious activities was protected against alcohol consumption [OR:0.7 (0.53–0.83), p < 0.001]; and sex [OR: 0.5 (0.4–0.7), p < 0.001]. Being a female and belonging to a coloured population group diminished engaging in sexual intercourse, and the family structure of both parents attenuated involvement in smoking cannabis.ConclusionThe findings of the study on risks and protective factors on health risk behaviours mirror those of school-based programmes in developing countries. Learners who participated in paid work and school sports are at risk of adverse health outcomes. Furthermore, participation in religious practices and family structure roles in attenuating health risk behaviours should be integrated and considered in the school-based intervention programme.

Determinants of non-farm employment in Punjab: Evidence from National Sample Survey Rounds

There is growing consensus among the social scientist that for the development of rural economy, rural non-farm sector should be thriving. The present study is an attempt to study the factors enabling the rural households of Punjab to participate in the rural non-farm activities. In the present study, the household level data of National Sample Survey Organization’s employment-unemployment 50th round and 68th round is utilized. The rural households of Punjab are categorized into; self-employed, casual labourer, regular or salary earners and others in farm as well as non-farm sector. The logit regression model for both the rounds are utilised to study the factors impacting the participation as self-employed, casual labourers, and regular wage earners in rural non-farm sector. As compared to the year 1993-94, in the year 2011-12, the proportion of households earning their livelihood in rural non-farm sector has increased. Moreover, the proportion of casual labourer in rural non-farm sector has also increased. The choice of occupations among the self-employed, regular salary earners and causal labourer in the rural non-farm sector is also changing in Punjab. The factors like education, number of skilled members in the households, head’s education, household belonging to developed districts significantly impacted the choice of working in rural non-farm sector of Punjab. The study recommends that with increase in investment in education and developing the infrastructure in rural areas can develop the rural non-farm sector.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Tobacco Addiction: Clinical and Social Characteristics in a Large Sample of Tobacco Smokers

Background: Several scientific studies indicate that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a risk factor for the development of pathological addiction, including Tobacco Use Disorder (TUD). Despite various hypotheses proposed to explain the reasons for this frequent comorbidity, the limited amount of research aimed at describing the characteristics of this population restricts our understanding of the nature of this relationship. Aims: The purpose of our descriptive and retrospective study is to examine the differences between a group of tobacco users with suspected ADHD and those without it, with respect to socio-demographic characteristics, factors related to tobacco addiction, alcohol consumption, past and current use of illicit substances, and comorbid psychiatric symptoms. Methods: A total of 1166 smokers who were referred to the Addiction Medicine Unit of the University Hospital in Verona between 2015 and 2021 were selected. Users for whom it was not possible to obtain all the necessary information were excluded from the sample. The remaining participants were divided into two groups based on their scores on an ADHD screening test. The group that scored negatively on the screening test (n = 964) was then compared to the group that scored positively on the same test (n = 114). Results: Statistically significant differences emerged between the two groups. Specifically, users in the positive group were found to be more likely to have the marital statuses of "Single" and "Separated/Divorced," as well as the occupational statuses of "Unemployed," "Student," "Teacher," "Housework," "Casual Worker," "Worker," and "Artisan/Trader." They also exhibited a higher level of nicotine addiction and reported an increase in smoking in the last 12 months. Furthermore, they had a history of both previous and current use of illicit substances and higher overall levels of anxious and depressive symptoms, regardless of gender. Conclusion: Several factors related to sociodemographic characteristics, smoking behavior, past and current use of illicit substances, and current levels of anxiety and depression could potentially mediate the relationship between ADHD and TUD. Clinicians involved in smoking cessation treatments should take comorbidity with adult ADHD into consideration.

The status of Self-employed and Casual Workers in India: Some recent changes due to COVID19

The status of Self-employed and Casual Workers in India: Some recent changes due to COVID19

Writing Tutor Alumni Takeaways: Pros and Cons of Contingency

This essay aims to build upon the Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project (PWTARP), designed by Bradley Hughes, Paula Gillespie, and Harvey Kail (2010), which focuses on what tutors learn about themselves as writers and students. However, the PWTARP survey, like much of writing center scholarship, focuses on student workers attending PWIs (Predominately White Institutions). To help fill the diversity gap in the existing literature, the current study uses the PWTARP survey as a frame of reference to investigate what tutors learned about themselves as writers and students at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Based on feedback from a team of current and former tutors, we added questions that addressed demographics, multilingualism, and worker conditions. We conducted a mixed methods case study and collected data via surveys and focus group interviews with tutor alumni before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2019–2022). Our findings connect with many results of the original PWTARP and other responses about economic vulnerability and the emotional labor of tutoring. Also, our survey produced many useful findings about issues related to being a contingent worker, including economic pressures, emotional labor, and professional development.

Challenges of implementing labor rights for employees engaged in contingent labor in Ukraine

Challenges of implementing labor rights for employees engaged in contingent labor in Ukraine

Religious and social group diversity in borrowing and spending behaviour: Analysis of survey results from rural West Bengal, India

India is a nation characterised by diversity in religion and caste. This paper attempts to determine whether diversity among religious and social groups has any impact on the borrowing and spending behaviour of households in West Bengal, India. We conduct a Fairlie decomposition analysis to evaluate the religious and caste differences in the socio-economic variables that mostly contribute to the disparity in institutional borrowing, use of institutional loans, and use of banking services using a household-level primary survey in two districts of West Bengal, India. The results of the decomposition analysis in terms of social group differences and religious group differences show that households belonging to the unreserved category and the Hindu population are more likely to hold savings bank accounts, make use of institutional borrowing, and use loans for production purposes than different reserved categories and the Muslim population, respectively. The gap between the reserved and unreserved populations and the Hindu and Muslim populations in terms of institutional borrowing and the use of loans for production purposes widens for regular wage earners and casual labourers in nonagriculture. To reduce the gap between social and religious groups, occupation categories play a major role. The implication is that wider access to financial services should be provided to all sections of the population.

Exploitation of Contract Workers in the Banking Industry: Study of Banks in Sokoto, Nigeria

The study assessed the exploitation of casual workers in the Nigerian financial sector, with a specific reference to banks in the Sokoto megalopolis. The objective of the study was to examine the working condition of utmost casual staff in these banks. The study was explicatory and employed a qualitative exploration design; for the purposes of the study, a total of five banks were used as a sample, accounting for 70% of the banks in Sokoto metropolitan. Fifty respondents (casual/contract workers) were purposefully picked from the 171 casual staff members of the selected banks by random sampling to form a sample of the population. Using a key informant interview guide, five management staff members, one from each selected bank, were also interviewed. The study found that the salaries to casual staff in the bank is not commensurate to the work executed, Business Solution enterprises were the major agents in the exploitation of casual workers of banks in Nigeria and these BSFs are possessed by the top directors of the banks; denoting double exploitation, casual staff are being deprived of certain social benefits, allowances, and social security of jobs. The study recommends the perpetration of the transnational labor laws and making of laws to check the casualization of labor in fiscal institutions, that government should ensure strict compliance with the labor laws, and unionization was explosively recommended as a move toward negotiating the rights of casual staff, among others. Keywords: casual, business solution firms, exploitation of workers, workers’ performance. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55463/hkjss.issn.1021-3619.60.80

Contingency as a Barrier to Decolonial Engagement: Listening to Multilingual Writers

Based on the concept of transformative listening by García (2017) that views listening as a form of decolonial work that must take place in writing centers, the article examines colonial thinking and contingency as toxic preexisting conditions of writing center ecology that hinder our ability to listen to marginalized multilingual voices. Recognizing the commonality between multilingualism and contingency, both as ignored marginalized intersecting identities in the hierarchy of the racialized and corporatized university system, the article describes the complexity of engaging contingent workers in decolonial work and listening. Further, it argues that contingency creates significant barriers to the type of antiracist and decolonial work that García calls for that cultivates transformative listening. The article proposes specific types of collaborative training and partnerships that writing centers should invest in to foster decolonial listening and work while addressing the material constraints faced by contingent faculty and staff.

Covid-19’s effects on strong and weak ties in middle-class familiesInsights from intergenerational qualitative longitudinal data

The contact restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic influence social relationships in families and at work. Drawing on Granovetter’s network theory, the changes of strong and weak ties in different life spheres of middle-class families and their importance for coping with the crisis are analyzed. The article builds on intergenerational qualitative longitudinal data that was collected in a project on status maintenance of middle-class families that conducted narrative family interviews with three generations between August 2018 and August 2021. In general, strong ties to close family members and friends continued during the pandemic through modified interaction practices and even intensified. They provided reciprocal and emotional social support, which was needed to cope with changing social conditions and uncertainties. Restrictions were experienced by the oldest generation or when intrafamilial dependencies were reactivated. Regarding weak ties, distinctions must be made between different spheres and ties. Ties to more distant relatives and friends became looser or were cut, while neighborhoods gained significance. Central work and business ties to colleagues and customers were transformed and thus maintained, while more casual work relationships like professional networks were reduced or cut. Inequality effects can be observed to the detriment of women and the youngest generation.

Comfort, Contingency, and Writing Center Work: An Essay in Three Illusions

In this hybrid essay, I engage creatively with the illusory nature of contingent work, presenting three episodes from my personal experiences as a contingent writing program administrator (WPA) during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, I interrogate these experiences by building on past critiques of “comfortable” writing centers, applying Sara Ahmed’s work on the affectiveness of (dis)comfort in order to examine comfort and its uneasy relationship with labor. For whom is the writing center expected to labor to provide comfort? Whose comfort, and moreover whose safety, is jeopardized or made invisible in the process? In answering these questions, this essay proposes that writing center work during the pandemic offers three valuable insights into contingency: first, how contingency is a state that generates semantic shifts around its workers, such as the slippery meaning of “comfort”; second, how contingency reproduces itself aesthetically in “comfortable” writing center spaces; and finally, how writing center professionals might work to resist the exhaustive demands of contingency within writing center work.

Profil Sosial Ekonomi Usaha Penganyam Daun Kelapa (Klangsah) di Kecamatan Abiansemal Kabupaten Badung

Socio-Economic Profile of Coconut Leaf Weaver (Klangsah) in Abiansemal District, Badung Regency&#x0D; One example of the use of coconut leaves in Bali is klangsah. Klangsah are plaits made from old coconut leaves. Klangsah is used as a substitute for the roof in tents for traditional activities in Bali.The activity of weaving coconut leaves (klangsah) can provide job opportunities for the Balinese people. This research was conducted at the klangsah weaver business in Abiansemal District with the aim of knowing the socio-economic profile of the klangsah weavers and the income level of the klangsah weavers.The selection of the location was done intentionally and the selection of respondents was carried out by census, namely 18 klangsah weavers in Abiansemal District.The data analysis technique used in this research is descriptive qualitative analysis and descriptive quantitative analysis.The results showed that the social profile of the klangsah weavers in Abiansemal District according to their identity, all of the klangsah weavers were productive age with low education with the majority of women as business owners. Meanwhile, the economic profile of the klangsah weavers in Abiansemal District when viewed from (1) the business network, where the origin of the supply of raw materials comes from collectors in Jembrana Regency and farmers around the business location, (2) business characteristics, where the capital owned comes from loan funds and personal funds assisted by family workers and casual workers having an average number of working hours of 7 hours per day, (3) income, in 2020 the total income of klangsah weavers is Rp29.881.003.&#x0D;

Care Work Is Not Conditional: Contingent Labor and “Vocation” in Theological and Religious Studies

Abstract This article is written for people working in the related fields of theological and religious studies, speaking directly to the issue of contingency as a feminist question of care. It acknowledges how cisgendered women in the academy often bear the bulk of caring for others, but goes further, interrogating how care discourses structurally inform the contingent worker’s material realities. Contingency raises the question of the value of the humanities, of which theological and religious studies are a part. Framed as a question of “vocation,” Max Weber argues that the humanities scholar’s work should be oriented to research, rather than moral transformation. A critical and feminist analysis of care, then, unveils contingent labor as a kind of care work that supports masculinist attachments to the tenure track faculty position as the pinnacle of effort and scholarship. The article offers first steps toward constructive recommendations for the issues that we identify.

Impact of COVID – 19 Epidemic on the Tourism Sector of Sri Lanka

The impact of coronavirus on the tourism sector is still skeptic. Therefore, the study focused to explore the impact of the COVID – 19 epidemic on the Tourism sector of Sri Lanka and identifying the appropriate strategies to rebuild the tourism sector by overcoming the pandemic. A qualitative approach was employed in this study by conducting 11 semi-structured interviews. The snowball sampling technique was employed to identify various stakeholders and the collected data were analysed using discourse analysis. Accordingly, findings showed that many hotels and restaurants began retrenching employees and terminating casual and temporary workers’ services due to loss of income. Moreover, backward linkages, notably the association between the host community and tourism businesses in Sri Lanka have been deeply affected. It is concluded that Sri Lankan tourism has been severely disturbed by COVID – 19 because the tourism industry is extremely vulnerable, and trends of the industry are determined by several macro and micro environmental factors. The study provides some different strategies and tactics to overcome the problems faced by the tourism industry as implications. The qualitative approach was used with multiple data sources to gain more insight into the impact of COVID – 19 epidemic on the tourism industry through discourse analysis being the main originality of the study. Consequently, the findings were aligned with the Theory of Change. Recovery strategies are recommended to implement in two distinct phases with stakeholders’ participation to overcome the crisis.

Analysis of the effect of employee status on construction worker's safety behavior using structural equation model

The construction industry is one of the most at risk to worker safety. The number of work accidents in Indonesia continues to increase so that by 2021 the number of work accidents will reach 234,270 cases. Therefore, in-depth research is needed to maintain the safety of all workers. Recognizing the factors that cause work accidents helps stakeholders take preventive action. It is necessary to increase worker safety behaviour by identifying its factors. Both those that occur in casual workers and permanent workers. Therefore, it is important to see whether employment status affects the safety behaviour of construction workers so that preventive measures can be taken as a form of prevention of work accidents. The research objective was to analyze the status of workers on the safety behaviour of construction workers. Data was collected through a survey method of 300 construction workers in the cities of Surabaya, Malang, and Batu in East Java, Indonesia. The results of the study show that worker status has a positive effect on construction work safety behaviour. This means that the higher the Employee Status will increase the Safety Behavior variable, with a path coefficient of 0.390. Among the indicators that are dominant in measuring the ES Worker Status construct is the Type of Worker, with the highest loading factor of 0.842. Thus, if the management wants to raise the value of the variable Safety Behavior through improving aspects of Employee Status, what need to be evaluated as a top priority is the Employee Type. The results of this study can be used as a reference in setting policies related to worker safety. Project management can determine what strategic steps need to be taken for construction workers with different types of employee statuses. so as to increase worker awareness of a culture of safety behavior.