The following article is reprinted with permission by Focus on the Public Services, No. 3 -- September, 1995 published by Public Services International, France.
Computer technology can make it easier for people to get access to public services. Just imagine being able to get hold of information by pressing a key on a computer at home or in the office. It can be done around the clock - not just during office hours. That's positive, provided people are literate and have access to computers. But if public service users need or prefer to meet a human service provider, then computerised public services will not stand the test.
Most public sector workers cannot do their jobs from home but as the world of work is changing more and more employees will face part-time, flexitime, temporary jobs, homework, and telework. In some countries, mainly in the North, certain public sector jobs are now being transferred into telework - employees doing their work from home via a computer. The pros and cons of telework are presently being discovered by workers and unions. It certainly has an impact on those who stay at home but it will also affect the ones who remain in the workplace and it may translate into job losses and poorer service. Some PSI affiliates have been actively involved in research, political action and organising of homeworkers/teleworkers for a number of years.
In 1994, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission approved an agreement negotiated between the Community and Public Sector Union, CPSU, and the Department of Industrial Relations called the "Consent Homebased Interim Award" that lays down formal regulations concerning homework in the public services. It confirms the voluntary nature of homework and stipulates that provisions such as pay, leave, allowances and all other entitlements, including training and staff development, which an employee receives as an on-site worker, also apply to the homebased worker. As for working arrangements, it states that the employee should spend at least two days of the working week in the office. Other arrangements such as the employers' responsibility for the provision of equipment and associated supplies are also included.
The "Award" specifies the types of jobs which are not suitable for homework arrangements: work that require a high degree of supervision or direct client face to face contact at the home site, positions that do not lend themselves to objective performance monitoring, or jobs that carry full-time training or supervisory responsibilities. The text of the "Award" is part of a CPSU publication entitled "Homebased Teleworking Information Kit". This kit also contains standard agreement forms required by both employers and employees for the approval of homework arrangements.
However, so far only 30 workers, mostly at the middle and senior classification levels, have had their applications approved. It is estimated that some one hundred workers have lodged applications, which is not an overwhelming indication of interest given that 100,000 employees are eligible to apply. [The union has similar arrangements covering members in Australian Telecom and Australia Post.]
Telework Policy
PSAC, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, has been engaged in telework research for more than four years including consultations with the federal government. PSAC is not actively organising non-organised teleworkers and the number of organised teleworkers is presently relatively small.
PSAC adopted a telework policy in 1994. One of the basic arguments put forward by the union was that new technologies, be it hardware, software or new work processes, should not only allow workers to provide increased services and goods, it should also provide benefits for the workers. Evidently, telework is often a low-wage, low-capital cost employer initiative that serves their agenda of "more for less" but does little to provide a healthy alternative to workers' individual needs for flexibility and more leisure time.
The policy paper includes an action plan that specifies work which PSAC will undertake, for example establishing local Tech Change Committees and producing a Tech Change Handbook. The policy also contains detailed proposals on education, collective bargaining, health and safety and human rights. PSAC will continue to press for a shorter working week without loss in pay and benefits, so that the productivity gains made with the use of technology can be shared with the unemployed by way of job creation.
Best of Both Worlds
In the UK, the Inland Revenue Staff Federation, IRSF, has been involved in work on alternative working patterns since 1991, when the Personnel Division at the Revenue's Head Office launched a review of part-time work, called a "Factual Study of Working Patterns". This initiative was then developed further by the union in the "Best of Both Worlds" which calls for the development of new working patterns and the consolidation of existing patterns, based on a policy that individual members should have more choice of how they combine work and domestic responsibilities (and recognising that management could also benefit).
Currently, management is pushing for a considerable extension of homework, though there are significant technical barriers to the introduction of actual data processing at home. The three particular areas in which tax managers are being encouraged to carry out pilot schemes are part-time work, homework and a longer business day/personal core time.
IRSF has put together a list of key points for working party discussions, adopted motions in order to protect members, and developed guidelines (on managing staff who work at home, the home as a working environment, and modifications to a standard letter of employment).
The Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union, MSF, also in the UK, has recently established a new section, the Information Technology Professionals Association, ITPA, to cater for the interests of its 10,000 members working in this area. This new MSF section will determine future policies on professional and employment issues and provide a network for exchange of information.
Homework and Housework
As early as 1984, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFSCME, adopted a resolution on computer homework which drew attention to the risk of worker exploitation, the lack of health and safety measures, the piece rate, the isolation, and the nightmares of working mothers forced to simultaneously juggle housework, child care and homework. AFSCME opposed computer homework unilaterally imposed by management and stipulated that if computer homework were to be instituted it should initially be done for a trial period in the context of strong collective bargaining.
The Wisconsin State Employees Union (AFSCME) was the first to negotiate a contract for a small number of employees doing word-processing at home with the University of Wisconsin's Hospital and Clinics. Heavy workloads, staffing problems, and a non-expandable workplace constituted the problem; the staff also expressed an interest in working at home, envisaging more flexible work hours, better conditions, and reduced commuting time. Six years later, management estimates that the people working at home are 40 to 50 per cent more productive than the people in the office and the union has been able to retain contact with the members while protecting the work from being contracted out.
"Re-evaluating Union Policy Toward Home-based Work" (1992) by Kathleen Christenson, Director of the National Project on Home-based Work, states that the realities of work-at-home in the 1990s are a lot more complex and varied. "Firms in the United States have undergone profound changes in the last decade as a result of downsizing, mergers and acquisitions, and the need to stay competitive in an increasingly global economy. Many companies now think of their personnel in much the same manner as they do their inventories, striving for a just-in-time staffing strategy to parallel their just-in-time inventory systems that keep supplies and materials just sufficient to meet current demand."
This desire for elasticity in staffing has resulted in an ad hoc two-tiered work force; the first tier comprising a core of salaried employees on the company payroll with a "traditional" degree of job security, health and pension benefits etc. The second tier are hired as self-employed independent contractors, temporaries or casual part-timers, many of whom are not on the company payroll; and many of whom previously worked for the company as core employees.
Home-based independent contractors are often treated like and expected to perform as company employees. They receive work from only one company; they work on materials provided by that company; they are given strict quotas and turn-around times; and some are required to sign contracts stating that they will not take any similar kinds of work from competing companies. These contractors have very little independence and are expected to behave as employees - with none of the benefits.
This situation in the private sector may have repercussions for the public sector.
Work at a Distance
PSI affiliates in other countries are also beginning to examine issues related to homework/telework. The Swedish Union of Local Government Officers, SKTF has, in co-operation with TCO, the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees, conducted a survey which reveals that about a third of the SKTF membership work at home from time to time. Further research is taking place at the moment, and a final report is expected to be ready by October this year.
SKTF is also working on so-called checklists of issues to be sorted out with the employer when homework/telework is negotiated. These lists will contain advice regarding working hours, equipment, health and safety, training, promotion, and trade union rights.
Some of the issues pertinent to homework/telework have already been covered in a TCO report entitled "At an adequate distance - for and against homework/telework" (1987). This report looks at different types of teleworkers such as the single, overworked mother doing low-tech, low paid homework/telework while caring for the kids, and the man in his thirties or forties, independently carrying out important projects in his beautiful house by the sea.
The reality now is that the typical teleworker is indeed a man in his thirties, he does work independently, he has often chosen to do this type of work, he is paid a monthly salary, and he is not permanently employed.
CONTACT:
Public Services International
Telephone: +33 50 40 64 64
Fax: +33 50 40 73 20
e-mail: PSI@GEO2.POPTEL.ORG.UK
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