Excess Baggage: Leveling the Load and Changing the Workplace (Critical Approaches in the Health Social Sciences) - Hardcover

Rosskam, Ellen; Elling, Ray H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0895033607 ISBN 13: 9780895033604

Verlag: Baywood Publishing Company Inc, 2007

Inhaltsangabe

Based on groundbreaking research on the working conditions of airport check-in workers in two countries, a previously unstudied category of predominantly women workers, Ellen Rosskam describes a form of work characterized as modern-day Taylorism. An occupation greatly affected by new forms of work organization and management practices-caught in the throes of rapid change due to international competition, alliances, mergers, and the application of cost-efficiency strategies-check-in work has been undermined in recent years by the adverse effects of liberalization and technological change.By peeling away the veneer of glamour associated with airport check-in work, Rosskam reveals how changes in work organization in this sector have de-skilled, disempowered, and ultimately demoralized workers. In "Excess Baggage", weaving through the psychological distress, physical pain from musculoskeletal disorders, strain, and violence that check-in workers experience and describe in their own words, a picture emerges of a job perceived to be "safe," "clean," "glamour girl" work, but which is comparable to industrial workplaces that require heavy manual lifting, obligingly performed in skirts, dresses, and pretty little shoes.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Ellen Rosskam, Ray Elling

Ellen Rosskam is an occupational health specialist and social policy analyst with 25 years of experience as a researcher and practitioner. During 15 years at the International Labour Office in Geneva, Switzerland, she worked in more than 40 countries, primarily developing countries and transitional economies, as a Senior Occupational Health and Socio-Economic Security Specialist. She has conducted groundbreaking research on the conditions of previously unstudied populations; developed research-based social policy aimed at improving the health, living, and working conditions of workers in countries around the world; and advised governments on the application of labor standards and social policy. Rosskam led global research examining the effects on workers of the liberalization of public services, and headed research in 25 countries of Central and Eastern Europe investigating changes in the social and economic conditions of health workers and health systems since the fall of Communism. In 1991, Rosskam pioneered the ILO's work linking HIV/AIDS and the workplace. The author of numerous scientific publications, Rosskam holds a Ph.D. in economic sciences in management (University of Lausanne, Switzerland), master's in public health (University of California, Los Angeles), and B.A. in third world development sociology (University of California, Berkeley). She is Visiting Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Work Environment Department, and Visiting Senior Fellow at the University of Surrey, European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, England. She works internationally as a public health and social protection specialist.

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IN PRAISE OF. . . "Rosskam's study of the airport check-in industry provides an excellent example of workers participating in work arrangements that eventually lead to the disappearance of their own jobs and security. She also helps us see that it is more than repetitive motion that leads to workrelated musculoskeletal disorders: the organization of work itself, including the lack of worker empowerment, helps create the huge musculoskeletal health toll. With work being reorganized on a global scale, it is important to understand the health implications of the new world of work. Rosskam has a good direct style of writing and her analysis is authoritative." —Jeanne Mager Stellman, Ph.D., Professor, Columbia University "Excess Baggage takes a rare look at how economic insecurity, so characteristic of globalization, impinges on the health and functional capacities of workers under stress. Similar strains are occurring in many groups of workers all over the world. We must fight this insecurity. " —Guy Standing, Ph.D., Director, Socio-Economic Security Programme, International Labour Office, Geneva "This book is interesting and timely. It carries some messages that are important to managers. In some places, tears came to my eyes as I read, and I really felt the pain of the workers. One of the charms of the book is that it makes us aware of an invisible group that many of us frequently deal with. The plea for participatory work organization and enhanced and more respectful training is eloquent. " —Karen Messing, Ph.D., Professor, University of Québec at Montréal "The description of "dehumanizing" managers, how to recognize destructive personality types in the workplace, and what to do about them is important not only for Human Resource Directors, but for everyone from CEOs to the newest employee. " —Joanne Aliber, M.B.A., Senior Product Manager, Tom Tom, Inc. "This book is the first internationally comparative examination of the working conditions of airport check-in workers. Among other findings, it reveals a serious loss of work time and productivity and—most importantly—presents a dramatic picture of pain among this group of workers, which affects their lives beyond the workplace. As Rosskam shows, check-in work, which operates under management policies based on high demand but low worker control, can have considerable adverse effects on workers. This book should be mandatory reading for both industry management and trade unions, to reformulate check-in working policies in order to provide healthier and safer workstations. " —Ingo Marowsky, ITF Aviation Secretary

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Baywood Publishing Company Inc
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2007
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0895033607
• ISBN 13: 9780895033604
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 288
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar