Industrial Relations in 1989
This paper deals with the major issues in Industrial Relations throughout 1989: the continuing overriding influence of the centralised system and Accord; the major areas of dispute, particularly those associated with planned industry restructuring and rationalisation of services; and some interesting and innovative developments highlighting changes in direction affecting organisations and individuals. The paper concludes with a summary Balance Sheetfor the 1980's from the perspective of unions and employers and speculates as to the effect of the 1990 Federal election on Australia's unique industrial relations system forecasting that, regardless of the party in government, the predominantly centralised regulated approach will accommodate an increasing degree of decentralised, deregulated administration of terms and conditions of employment.
Industrial Relations in 1988
Undoubtedly, the election of the Hawke Labor Government in 1983 marked a turning point in Australian industrial relations. To a large extent industrial turbulence receded, helped along by global econ omic instability and the influence ofthe Prices and Incomes Accord between the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Council of Trade Union (ACTU). Arguably, the apparent success of the Accord owed something to a widespread concern within unions that the election of a Liberal-National Party government at the federal level would have resulted in a major pro gram of economic regulation, especially in relation to the institutions ofthe labour market. During 1988, despite an increasingly buoyant economy, the continuing influence of these economic and political conditions ensured that the level of industrial disputation remained subdued by historical stan dards, though those opposed to the nascent corporate state or centralised wage fixing may have been heartened by signs that wage restraint was fraying at the...
Union compliance and incomes policy: The Australian Social Contract, 1983-87
Australia has a lang experience of centralised wage-fixing through the federal and state systems of conciliation and arbitration but unti/1975 this machinery was not embedded in a more general incomes policy. Although this was undermined progressively and finally abandoned in 1981 a further incomes policy was introduced two years later following the election of a federal Labour government. Overseas experiences indicates that the structural features of the union movement are important determinants of the success of an incomes policy. Australian experience since 1983 however, indicates that, despite large numbers of competing unions and a union peak council lacking formal control over affiliates, an incomes policy may be viable. This reasoning was supported by empirical evidence pertaining to the role of the Australian Council of Trade Unions in securing compliance from affiliated unions.