The government not only outsources the computer systems to companies like Fujitsu but all knowledge about how to operate them, maintain them and fix them when they go wrong.
Barbara Allen, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Karl Lofgren, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington et Michael Macaulay, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
History suggests the new NZ government’s pledge to cut budgets and jobs in the public sector will cost more in the long run – and damage morale in the process.
Tech firms are relying on low-wage workers to power their AI models. That raises serious ethical questions about how the technology is being developed.
‘Contracting out’ government functions for delivery by the private sector has become the standard way of doing things across all levels of government in Australia.
Outsourcing is common in many hospitals. But when health care systems outsource certain clinical tasks to separate companies, costs can go up, quality of care can fall and patients can be harmed.
The outsourcing of domestic work contributes to the race, class and gender stereotypes of domestic work. It has neither elevated the status nor improved the working conditions of domestic workers.
Many of our cleaners have neither the time nor the resources to do the job properly, yet some do the job really well. The difference points to a way forward.
Public schools in some states outsourced their cleaning services to private companies as part of a neoliberal experiment starting in the 1990s. This has had a host of impacts, including on students.
Most Australian workers are fairly relaxed about their own job security, but they do worry about the risks of poor management and outsourcing to cheaper labour.