scholarly journals Industrial Relations in Queensland Under an LNP Government

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Anderson ◽  
Thomas Brauns
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Job Security ◽  
National Party ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Sector Reform ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
The Government

<em>The Liberal National Party (‘LNP’) won 78 out of a possible 89 seats in Queensland’s 2012 state election. Facing a budget blowout, the new Government soon used its control of the state’s unicameral parliament to implement a contentious public sector reform agenda. The LNP’s amendments to Queensland’s employment laws struck at the very heart of many of the accepted ‘ground rules’ of industrial relations. Perhaps most signif-icantly, the Government used its parliamentary majority to remove job security commit-ments given to public servants, paving the way for the loss of thousands of jobs. This paper sets out the key industrial relations reforms adopted by the LNP. The authors dis-cuss the Government’s rationale for the changes, and the reaction from Queensland’s trade union movement. The article concludes with some general observations about the changes adopted during the LNP’s term of Government; a period which will undoubtedly be remembered as a controversial part of Queensland’s industrial relations history.</em>

scholarly journals The Australian Domestic Pilots’ Dispute of 1989 and Its Implications: An Interpretation

1970 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Burgess ◽  
Richard Sappey
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Wage Increase ◽  
Business Sector ◽  
Senior Executives ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
The Government ◽  
Domestic Airline

The 1989 domestic pilots' dispute in Australia provided a stark demonstration of the underlying conflict and tensions of the neo-corporatist Prices and Incomes Accord. The pilots proposed a wage increase outside of the Accord guidelines but of comparable tnagnitude with the wagge increases received by senior executives within the airline sector and senior public servants. A protracted campaign saw the government and employers, with the tacit support of the ACIU, use a range of extreme measures against the Australian Federation of Air Pilots. Eventually, industrial peace was returned to the domestic airline sector. However, the costs, financial and emotional, of the dispute were considerable. The government restored industrial "order" but left considerable disquiet and division within the Australian trade union movement. The dispute established many important precedents for the business sector and the opposition Liberal/National Parties coalition in their push for labour market de-regulation in Australia.

An Exploratory Study of Trade Union Pluralism in Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth E. Parku ◽  
Yvonne Ayerki Lamptey
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
Enterprise Level ◽  
The Government ◽  
Cross Sectional Design

The practice of trade union pluralism at an enterprise level is seen as problematic for both the management of enterprises and the trade union movement. The problems arise from inter-union rivalries, competition and disputes over demarcations of privileges and rights. This article explores the practice of trade union pluralism at the enterprise level in Ghana with the aim of creating awareness of the effect of the practice on the general trade union movement. This qualitative study employed a cross-sectional design and used purposive and snowball sampling methods in selecting the participants. The data was analysed thematically. The findings from the study show that union pluralism is stimulating the decline in general union membership, the breakaway of local unions from the federations, and employers’ classification of workers based on their qualifications once they are employed by organisations, and their assignment to specific unions (automatic membership at enterprise level). It is suggested that employment laws encourage union breakaways, which weakens the unions especially at the enterprise level. It is recommended that the state, labour officials and policy-makers should enforce labour laws, especially regarding freedom of association, and consider revisiting or amending some labour laws to curb their abuse. The government and labour institutions need to work together to operationalise the implementation of legal provisions on freedom of association or consider amending the provisions to curb the existing abuse.

Change from Within: Reforming Trade Union Coverage and Structure

1991 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Kollmorgen ◽  
Richard Naughton
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Direct Role ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Union Coverage ◽  
Restructuring Process ◽  
The Government ◽  
Capacity For Change ◽  
Centralized System

The federal government has demonstrated that it supports moves to rationalize trade union structure by enacting legislation which allocates the parties in the industrial relations process different roles in transforming union coverage of workers and workplaces. The power to rewrite union eligibility rules under section 118A of the Industrial Relations Act 1988 provides the Australian Industrial Relations Commission with a direct role in the restructuring process, while the more permissive path towards trade union amalgamations now endorsed by the legislation allows the union movement itself an opportunity to hasten the reform process. The authors contend that the government has chosen to adopt a compromise model of reform by seeking to achieve change from within the existing centralized system. The paper analyzes the different legislative mechanisms, both to identify the capacity for change that currently exists within the Industrial Relations Act, and to assess whether they provide a suitable response to the challenges presently confronting the Australian industrial relations system.

scholarly journals COMMENTARY: Campaign for the Return to Free Wage Bargaining

1970 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Douglas
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
National Government ◽  
Wage Bargaining ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Union Coverage ◽  
Total Environment

The trade union movement in New Zealand has had its fundamental right to bargain with its employees denied it since the last award round in 1981/82. In the time that has elapsed since awards were last negotiated the National Government attempted to radically alter the total environment within which wage negotiations were to be conducted. In the first instance legislation was introduced which removed the unqualified preference clauae from the Industrial Relations Act. Secondly, the National Government sought to reform the wage fixing system in a manner which would effectively see to it that economic conditions took precedence over wage equity in deciding rates of remuneration. Thirdly, the National Government canvassed the concept of changes to existing rules of union coverage so as to make possible the emergence of enterprise based unions and consequentially the development of enterprise based bargaining.

MOU Convergence

2019 ◽  
pp. 174-196
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Black Box ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Network Interaction ◽  
Contextual Understanding ◽  
Political Dimensions

Several historical, sociocultural, and political dimensions have shaped the development and the discourse and practice of the trade union movement. The characteristics of “traditional” trade union discourse and practice are explored, providing a contextual understanding for the contest, challenge, and change evidenced by the process of translation into the MOU actor network. There are several implications for the “identity,” “relational,” and “ideational” aspects of trade union discourse and industrial relations practice by convergence with the MOU actor network. However, while relationships within the black box of network interaction affords the union movement prominence and access to the powerful halls of leadership and governance, the union constituency becomes contested in acceding to discoursal change and practice resulting in “boxing and dancing” within the new context of diminished adversarialism.

scholarly journals The Multinational Corporation and Industrial Relations : The European Approach

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Malles
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Multinational Corporation ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
European Approach ◽  
Union Movement

The author considers whether the multinational corporation constituted a challenge to the industrial relations systems as they have developed in Europe over the last quarter of a century and what response such a challenge found in the trade-union movement.

Solidarity in the Nineties? An Analysis of the ACTU Blueprint and the Costa/Duffy Critique

1991 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradon Ellem
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Or History

Plans to restructure the trade union movement have received little critical analysis. The most striking exception to this appeared in the first issue of this journal where Costa and Duffy argued that amalgamation plans were ‘fatally flawed’. This perspective, although drawing out some problems with the ACTU's program, is itself unsatisfactory because too much of its argument remains implicit and it relies on highly debatable assumptions. Like so much industrial relations debate in Australia, the arguments in and about union strategies are made more difficult because they proceed without reference to theory or history. The main burden of this article is, after a detailed analysis of the Costa and Duffy prescription, to show why this matters and to suggest some areas of detailed research.

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