The new multinationals and the commodification of public sector work; in: Work Organisation Labour and Globalisation, Vol 2, No 2, – an interdisciplinary, international journal:
Over the past few years a new breed of multinationals has arrived, almost unnoticed, on the scene. Like early capitalist adventurers, they have found a rich new source of wealth to exploit. But this seam of gold is to be found, not in the mountains of California or the depths of Africa but at the very heart of the welfare states of the developed world.
This important collection of essays anatomises the emergence of the ‘public services industry’ and analyses the way in which government services have been commodified so that they can be privatised or outsourced. It charts the growth of the global companies that have sprung up to supply these services and documents the devastating impact on workers, including work intensification, casualisation, loss of union protection and erosion of occupational identities. It also explores the changing relationship between the state and the private sector and the implications for democracy of developments which transform citizens into shoppers.
Required reading for anyone who wants to know what privatisation means for workers.
For more information go to: www.analyticapublications.co.uk
Published by Merlin Press, ISBN: 978 0 85036 610 5, 178 pages paperback, price £14.95 or available on subscription (ISSN: 1745-6451X)