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Greening Auto Jobs: A Critical Analysis of the Green Job Solution details current and problematic understandings of what constitutes a "green job." Adopting an approach grounded in critical political economy, this book presents a framework to scrutinize the green job solution and the theoretical framework which overwhelmingly informs contemporary green job creation efforts and ecological modernization. The text also explores the tensions that encircle the world of work and environmental action, often referred to as "jobs versus the environment," by detailing the conflicting commitments of political-economic actors to the idea of green job creation. These conflicts are outlined through an examination of the political-economic debate that has surrounded the Australian Government's environmental plans from 2008 to 2012 and the conflicting positions of Australian trade unions on environmentally transitioning the world of work. Interviews with key political-economic actors provide in-depth and nuanced understandings of the varied perspectives of political and union leaders in Australia.
The second part of the book presents a detailed case study of the posited green job solution within the specific context of the Australian automotive manufacturing industry. The case study is also informed by interviews with key industry, union, and policymakers. The automotive industry is scrutinized not only because it has expressed going green as important to its long-term economic future, but because the Australian Government declared that its $6.2 billion "New Car Plan for a Greener Future" policy would create green jobs. Therefore, the book engages with the task of examining the three multinational vehicle producers operating in Australia-Ford, GM Holden, and Toyota-and how they have responded and engaged with the idea of green jobs, greening the manufacturing process, and the vehicles they produce in Australia.
List of contents
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Appendixes
List of Abbreviations
Abstract
Preface and Acknowledgments
Chapter One - Introduction: Why Green Jobs Matter
Chapter Two - What is a Green Job?
Green Job Definitions
The Theoretical Foundation of Green Jobs
A Critique of Ecological Modernization
Ways of Understanding the Capitalist System and the Green Shift
A Marxist Understanding of Green Jobs
Conclusion
Chapter Three - Green Jobs as an Environmental and Economic Battleground
Green Jobs in Australia, a Blurred Vision
Recent Green Job Manoeuvres 2007-2011
The Narrative of Jobs as a Battleground in Australia
Conclusion
Chapter Four - The Response of Some Key Australian Unions to Green Jobs
Unions and Just Transition
What Do Unions Do? Australian Unions and a Green Jobs Agenda
What Do International Unions Do?
What Can Unions Do?
Conclusion
Chapter Five - The Automotive Industry: Setting the Scene
An Overview of the Current Global Automotive Industry Landscape
The Political Economy and Cultural Dominance of the Car: within the Global Context
Car Nation
The Labor Process: Automobile Production and Its Workers
Conclusion
Chapter Six - Crisis in the Global Automotive Industry and the Green Shift
Crisis
The Political Economic Shift of Auto: From Environmental Opposition to
Ecological Modernization
The Green Possibilities of the Three Parent Companies
The State and Labor Unions Embrace a Green Shift
Conclusion
Chapter Seven - Green Cars, Green Jobs: The Australian Government's Green Car Plan
Green Car Policy from Opposition
Green Car Policy in Government
Policy in Action
The Never-Ending Crisis
Conclusion
Chapter Eight - Analyzing the Green Shift: The Three Vehicle Manufacturers Operating in Australia
Understanding Green Jobs
Government Policy, Industry and the Environment
Green Shifts and Manoeuvres
Outside Australia's Control
Conclusion
Chapter Nine - Conclusion
Key Findings
Implications and Future Research Possibilities
Appendixes
Bibliography
End Notes
About the author
Caleb Goods is a research fellow at the University of Western Australia Business School.
Summary
Greening Auto Jobs: A Critical Analysis of the Green Job Solution provides a major contribution to the growing and important field of environmental sociology and labor studies by providing a theoretical and practical understanding of how the broader political-economic relations of society affect the relationship between labor and the environment.
