Australian Labor Relations

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the industrial relations and labor negotiations within the corporate structure of Australian companies. It examines the history of union density amongst the Australian laboring population, focusing on its decline in recent years. The writer shows how this decline and a corresponding increase in individual responsibility for negotiation has been reinforced by a retreated role of state involvement and resulted in a more independent, innovative, and less adversarial Australian work force.

From the Paper:

"According to a recent article on "Future Directions for Industrial Relations," the political thinker Richard Marles criticized what he saw as a shift in Australian labor relations from one which had taken into consideration the unique needs of the worker in contrast to corporate interests, to a more privatized approach to industry where worker's needs and corporate needs were assumed to be the same. (Marles Online Opinion) He states this is contrary to the overall positive trend in Australian labor policies. Marles traces the history of conflicts between labor and the emerging capital all the way back to the 1890's. This conflict, he states, in the industrial markets was only resolved in 1904, through the introduction of the Conciliation and Arbitration Court. This ultimately became the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. The Commission's stated aim was to allow the inherent differing interests of capital and labor in the Australian economy to be resolved through a debate rather than letting the vagaries of the workplace determine how the cost of human toil was bought and sold. (Marles Online Opinion; "Trade Unionism" The World Book Encyclopedia Online)"

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