Volunteers and Volunteering, edited by Jeni Warburton & Melanie Oppenheimer, The Federation Press, Sydney, 2000

The Summer of 2001/2002 will not easily be forgotten. Bushfires raged on several large fronts in Sydney bush suburbs, the Blue Mountains and the South Coast sending plumes of smoke and media hyperbole into the air. Amid the appeals, telethons and live crosses to Rosehill, volunteer firefighters were treated with an unqualified reverence being labelled as heroes, angels and saints. After the ‘battle’ came further glorification in the form of ticker tape parades and the like. In this environment, discussions surrounding the organisation and use of volunteer labour in firefighting were extensive but uncritical. Indeed even before the fires any person or body who has tried to engage in a critical dialogue on the subject has been either marginalised or ignored.

The collection of papers Volunteers and Volunteering edited by Jeni Warburton & Melanie Oppenheimer will hopefully make critical dialogues on volunteering possible in the future by laying the foundation stones for further research and discussions on the subject. Eva Cox in her chapter states that "being mean about volunteering is the equivalent of spitting on the American flag or abusing motherhood, as if there is some silent barrier to speaking ill of such a noble gesture." As a community we need to get beyond the often peddled view that critical and/or considered debates on volunteerism are an attack on the obvious generosity and altruism of the thousands of volunteers out there.

In the Introduction, Warburton & Oppenheimer run a broad brush over the subject including what defines a volunteer, how they are valued and their long term future. They state that the collection is an attempt to partially fill the theoretical and research void on the subject.

In Chapter 1, Oppenheimer explores voluntarism and the interrelationship between the Welfare State and voluntary welfare organisations in Australia, rejecting the view that voluntarism declined in the 20th Century. Drawing on the development of voluntary organisations between 1914 and 1945 she discusses ‘the frontier’ between the state’s activity and the voluntary sector up until the 1970s. In this context, the Howard Government’s encouragement of the voluntary sector in welfare is viewed as an ideologically driven attempt to reduce the role of the state and shift the burden on to the churches and charities, thereby taking our society and its ability to deal with the manifestations of social and economic inequity back to the 19th Century.

Michael Pusey is forthright and passionate in his essay, warning that volunteerism is under threat by economic rationalism. First he fears that it may be relegated to the ‘losing battle’ of cleaning up the mess created by the failure or inability of markets, state and family to provide ‘welfare’ due to the requirements of deregulation, markets and other elements of economic rationalism. Using data from his Middle Australia Project, Pusey illustrates how flexible work practices and work intensification impact on the supply of volunteers. In particular, the flexibility now afforded to employers impacts on a potential volunteer’s ability to volunteer his/her ‘free’ time: the "dwindling predictability of [a workers’ free time in terms of] its content and duration" crowds out the urge to volunteer with an ever present cacophony of ‘price signals’ from the labour market.

Jeni Warburton and Allyson Mutch, in a study of 14 non profit social welfare organisations based in Brisbane raise similar themes to Pusey. They also raise an emerging issue for many organisations and their volunteers: the need for "well trained volunteers rather than simply enthusiastic amateurs" in light of OH&S legislation, CBT/A regimes and community expectations.

Mark Lyons and Susan Hocking concentrate on highly committed volunteers (HCVs), persons who give more than 300 hours each year. HCVs tend to be older and well educated having both the inclination and time to volunteer. Their assessment is that whilst overall volunteer numbers are trending downwards, the future of highly committed volunteer numbers is not. They identify three main paths to volunteering, the first, parents providing services the market or state will not. (eg. sports training, school canteens etc). The second "shaped by the logic of necessity" is where non urban localities throughout Australia have no choice other than to provide services through volunteer effort, again because of the market / public policy failure. Finally, they identify those who are motivated by the "logic of public service." Again this raises issues around the concept of volition: can you classify someone a volunteer where the logic of necessity, particularly in rural Australia is the prime reason for their unpaid labour? Are they not in fact ‘conscripted’ by the absence of market or state provision?

Again questions over volunteering and volition plague Duncan Ironmonger’s paper entitled: "Measuring Volunteering in Economic Terms". To classify persons caring for ageing parents as volunteers belies the fact that in most cases familial ties and economic constraints are at work rather than a desire to give their time freely and without coercion. In saying this, I wish in no way to detract from efforts to officially value such labour particularly when (as Ironmonger points out) it falls disproportionately on particular groups in society (ie. women). I simply call for the nature of the work to be labelled more accurately.

Sha Cordingley the CEO of Volunteering Australia is more careful when she explains her organisation's definition and principles of volunteering: "Formal volunteering is an activity that takes place in not for profit organisations or projects and is of benefit to the community and undertaken of the volunteer’s own free will and with coercion; for no financial payment; and in designated volunteer positions only."

Cordingley explores these themes with a sensitivity towards volition missing in other essays. Furthermore, she discusses the need for volunteer organisations to respect the rights of paid workers and their unions when using volunteers, a consideration often missing in volunteering literature.

Next, Cora Baldock discusses how governments in Australia, the USA and the Netherlands socially construct older volunteers. She tentatively concludes that the social construction of senior volunteers is contingent on the prevailing view on how active older persons should be in the labour market & community organisations, the nature of national welfare systems and community notions of leisure. Baldock also appreciates the importance of volition and how it distinguishes volunteering from other forms of unpaid labour: "Choice is the central notion in the discourse of volunteering, whilst taken-for-granted activities that women are obliged, even coerced to undertake, define discourses of informal care and domestic labour." [p.84]

Michael Bittman and Cathy Thomson analyse the invisible support supplied by family and other householders to the disabled and aged. Whilst analysing 'the iceberg of welfare’ (informal care), they carefully distinguish it from formal volunteering. They outline the significant burden that informal carers (often family and women) bear in providing the vast bulk of disabled and aged care in Australia.
Jenny Onyx and Rosemary Leonard’s essay follows using social capital theory to analyse volunteering from a feminist perspective. I must admit that my understanding and interest in social capital theory has been undermined by its somewhat nebulous and Blairesque feel. They contend that in viewing volunteering as a social capital generating process, the value of volunteering (particularly for women) will be more accurately recognised [increased]. Thus volunteers do not produce just outputs (eg. meals, caring, fire protection) but "improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions." [p.114].

Neo-institutional theory underlies the work of Catherine McDonald and Allyson Mutch. Their model relies on "circular linkages between agency and institutions, with volunteers seen "as active agents interacting in the organisations creating, recreating and being to a certain extent created by the institutional order." Again the case studies of organisational (and volunteer) change used in their essay are in the health and welfare sectors. It would be nice to see more case studies beyond this (albeit important) area.

Eva Cox follows with her exploration of The "Light and Dark" of Volunteering. She warns of the "filleting" of social capital theory by neo-liberals and ‘concerned’ conservatives to justify rolling back an active and interventionist State. Cox also raises the question: are volunteers always acting in the broader community interest? She raises the existence of organisations such as the Melbourne Club and Masonic lodges, which promote benefits to chosen members often at the expense of the broader community. I have had to ask the same question of a small proportion of the volunteers involved in fire protection when I have seen volunteers in urbanised areas actively lobby against the implementation of additional resources (firefighting equipment staffed by paid firefighters) in their communities.

The final essay explores Joy Noble’s musings on the future of volunteering in Australia. After outlining her personal experience of both paid worker and volunteer (and describing the interrelationship between the two), Noble outlines the contribution that volunteers make to our nation and a number of strategies to ensure the ongoing development of volunteering.

In summary this collection of essays represent a starting point for a more meaningful dialogue on volunteerism in Australia. Hopefully it will enable us to get over the ‘silent barriers’ that have been built in the past based on ignorance of both the importance and impacts of volunteering. It may raise awkward questions relating to equity and volition, but it has to be done. Any volunteers?

Reviewed by Michael Wright
Senior Industrial Officer
NSW Fire Brigade Employees' Union