‘No leg to stand on’: The moral economy of Australian industrial relations changes

Abstract

Labour law changes in Australia in 2006 significantly reconfigured industrial relations institutions and the balance of power in the employment relationship – in favour of employers and against the low-paid in particular. This article analyses the changes as they affected low-waged women workers, using a moral economy framework. While acknowledging the importance of material rewards, a moral economy perspective focuses on aspects of work that are not reducible to the terms of the market. The article analyses how women articulated the effects of the legislation, and how work institutions embody moral conceptions, demonstrating how labour law change can markedly disrupt the underlying, taken-for-granted moral economy.