Reflection on Reading: Work in a Global Society Assignment 1 - RMIT

This assignment reflects on several academic articles concerning the challenges faced by international students in the global labor market. The reflection focuses on the primary purposes and key arguments of the readings, particularly regarding precarious work conditions, including underpayment and exploitation by employers. The analysis highlights the relevance of these readings to understanding the changing nature of work and labor markets, especially the impact on workers' lives. Strengths and weaknesses of the articles are evaluated, emphasizing social justice and the need for awareness of unethical practices. The assignment identifies key issues such as illegal employer practices, low wages, and the lack of protection for international students. The overall aim is to enhance the working and living conditions of international students by addressing issues of underpayment and exploitation within various sectors like cafes and restaurants.

Work in a Global
Society
Assignment 1: Reflection on Reading
(include your name)

Name of paper reviewed
• Gruenewald, D.A. and Smith, G.A. eds., 2014. Place-based education in the global age:
Local diversity. Routledge.
• Harkavy, I., Hartley, M., Hodges, R.A. and Weeks, J., 2016. Working to Educate Global
Citizens and Create Neighborly Communities Locally and Globally: Penn's Partnerships
in West Philadelphia as a Democratic Experiment in Progress. Higher Learning
Research Communications, 6(2), p.43.
• Loy, J. and Cooper, R., 2017. Addressing Cultural and Gender Project Bias: Engaged
Learning for Diverse Student Cohorts. In Strategies for Increasing Diversity in
Engineering Majors and Careers (pp. 130-154). IGI Global.
• Rees, J., Boulton, G., Rosling, H., Smith, S.J., Kothari, U. and Dearing, J., 2014.
Working together to address global problems: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
Medals and Awards ceremony 2014. The Geographical Journal, 180(3), pp.281-288.
•
RMIT University Slide 2

Primary purpose and focus of the article
•The primary aim of this research article is
to evaluate the part time poor working
conditions for the international students
•The articles evaluate the significant issues
of social justice
•The international students are offered work
at very low amount of wages and these are
done by the illegal employer practices
RMIT University Slide 3

Key arguments raised in the reading
• The key idea of the article is the discussion and the arguments on the
poor working conditions for the international students at low wages
• The argument is mainly on the higher levels of precariousness which
is mainly centered on the illegal employer's underpayment practices
that cause the students to suffer from poor living conditions
• The idea is to understand the illegal employer practices throughout
Australia so that the working and living conditions for the international
students can be enhanced
• . The illegal employer practices mainly hamper the living conditions
and the students are filled with poor work experiences
RMIT University Slide 4

Relevance of reading to understanding the
changing nature of work and/or labour markets
•The articles help in bringing out the conditions related to the wages
and working atmosphere of the students in cafes and restaurants
•The article evaluates the changing nature of the people of getti8ng
more and additional work from the international students by offering
them low amount of wages
•The illegal employer practices retains a changing nature and provide
underpayment works to the international students needs to be stopped
•It becomes the primary responsibility of the students as well as the
governments to look after the lower amount of wages offered to the
students.
RMIT University Slide 5

Evaluation of the reading
• The strength is the knowledge of the student and social awareness
that will help in enhancing the poor and underpayment work system
• The strength of the article is to evaluate the higher levels of
precariousness which is mainly centered on the illegal employer's
underpayment practices
• The weakness is the urge of immediate need of money for the
students due to which they are forced to work at very low amount of
wages
• There exists a lack of the protection among the international students
concerning their respective work processes
• There are certain illegal employers practices that takes the work from
the students in the name of ‘award recognition’
• The issue is regarding the underpayment, non-payment in the name
of training and apperciation to the international students in different
food service sectors such as in cafes and restaurants
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RMIT University Slide 7