[Muanet] Managerialism and suicide rates

[Dion Giles]

The article at http://www.truthout.org/101109E 
and the comments which follow consider the causes 
of a sharp increase in suicides in a major French 
corporation - France Telecom.  This establishment 
has been privatised (naturally, without the 
permission of the French people), but one wonders 
about non-privatised institutions such as 
universities in which the same kind of corporate 
management culture that poisoned France Telecom 
has made giant strides in the last couple of 
decades.  The immediate trigger in the French 
example seems to be planned instability in the 
workplace - dedicated workers arbitrarily shifted 
from pillar to post, and disruptive arbitrary 
redesigns of the pillars and the posts at 
frequent intervals.  And of course retrenchments 
intensifying the labour of the productive workers 
who are required to take up the slack.  Has 
anyone looked at rates of suicide and stress illness in Australian education?

Dion Giles

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