Historical Background Of Australia s Industrial Relations

Trade unions have been prominent in Australia since the early nineteenth century, established to improve and maintain the working conditions of workers through strategic industrial action including strikes, collective bargaining with employers, and advertising campaigns. Typically, Australia’s industrial relations have been shaped by highly centralized Commonwealth and state tribunal systems of conciliation and arbitration. However, the last three decades have seen considerable changes in the legislative, economic, and social realms that have traditionally governed the industrial relations of Australia, and the relevance of unions is under questioning. This paper examines the relevance of unions by first examining the historical†¦show more content†¦This commitment lasted over a decade and fostered negotiation among employees, employers, and governments outside of the formal industrial relations progressions (Chapman Gruen 1990; Morris Wilson 1995). The Workplace Relations Act of 1996 gave the Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) accessibility to ratify non-union collective agreements under enterprise bargaining at the workplace level, effectively decentralizing the union movement and reducing union control over employee working conditions (ABS Cat No 4102.0). The Act saw the prohibition of compulsory unionization and strengthened control that the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) had over illegal industrial action, allowing the AIRC to stipulate how much and for how long industrial dispute was lawful (Van Gramberg 2001). This period also endured a major privatization of the public sector occurred which promoted policies to foster a growth of precarious employment (Van Gramberg 2001). Changes to legislation crafted under The Workplace Relations Amendment Act (Work Choices) in 2005 encouraged employers and employees to resolve disputes at the workplace by removing unfair dismissal provisions, ascertaining a federal minimum wage rate and award minimum