bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Setting Up Psychiatric Services: Cross-Cultural Issues in Planning and Delivery
Authors: Bhugra Dinesh
Published: March 2007

There is convincing evidence that in the UK, various ethnic minorities are over- represented in psychiatric hospitals, prisons and special hospitals. Various expla nations have been put forward for this picture. The expanding emphasis on community care means that models for looking after ethnic communities should be innovative and work from a bottom-up approach. Psychiatric emphasis on clinical diagnoses means that services are developed according to the diagnoses rather than needs.
Lunar Cycle and Consultations for Anxiety and Depression in General Practice
Authors: Wilkinson Greg , Piccinelli Marco , Roberts Stephen , Micciolo Rocco , Fry John
Published: March 2007

The influence of the moon on patient consultations for anxiety or depression in general practice was assessed through a retrospective survey based on general practice medical records and on lunar records detailing the dates and times of different phases of the moon. Seven-hundred-eighty-two patients continuously registered in a general practice in Beckenham, South London, between 1971 and 1988 were included in analyses. No statistically significant lunar effect was found by setting the expected surge in consultations one to three days after the full moon and the period of the sine-wave curve to 30 days. Similarly, no statistically significant lunar effect was found, when the period of the sine-wave curve was allowed to vary in order to best fit the data. The moon had little influence on when individuals consulted their general practitioner with anxiety or depression.
Life Events Preceding Relapse of Schizophrenia
Authors: Das M.K. , Kulhara P.L. , Verma S.K.
Published: March 2007

In this study, retrospective assessment of life events over a period of one year was carried out in two groups of schizophrenic patients. Each group had 30 patients. One group comprised "relapsing" schizophrenics and the other consisted of "stable" patients. The group of "relapsing" schizophrenics had experienced a significantly greater number of life events and also had a significantly higher stress score than the "stable" group. However, analysis of the distribution of life events over the study period of one year showed no increase in the frequency of occurrence of life events in the three months prior to relapse. Similarly, no such significant increase in the stress score was seen in the same period of time in the group which had relapsed. Treatment cornpliance and stress scores accountod for nearly 40% of the variance of the data in the "rciapsing" group. Implications of the findings are highlighted.
Does Supported Housing Protect Recent Immigrants From Psychological Distress?
Authors: Ponizovsky Alexander , Perl Eliezer
Published: March 2007

Psychological distress measured by the Talbieh Brief Distress Inventory was compared between two groups of immigrants: consumers of supported housing (N = 302) and non-consumers living in community settings (N = 419), matched by sex, age and education level. Overall, distress level was found to be significantly lower in consumers of supported housing than in non-consumers. Consumers also exhibited significant lower hostility, obsessive-compulsive and paranoid ideation symptoms, but they were similar to nonconsumers on level of depression, anxiety and sensitivity. The results suggest that supported housing protects recent immigrants from environmental stresses to a greater extent than community residence.
A Cross-Cultural Study of the Attitudes of Mental Health Professionals Towards Auditory Hallucinations
Authors: Wahass Saeed , Kent Gerry
Published: March 2007

The usefulness of psychological interventions for auditory hallucinations is becoming increasingly accepted in Western cultures, but there are few data concerning the views of professionals working in non-Western societies. In this study, 195 psychologists and psychiatrists working in Saudi Arabia (SA) and Britain (UK) responded to a questionnaire regarding their (a) attitudes towards various clinical aspects of auditory hallucinations, (b) perceptions of the clinical value of psychological and pharmacological treatments and of the inputs of the two professions and (c) levels of social distance from people who experience auditory hallucinations. UK staff believed that there is a greater range of possible causes and diagnoses for auditory hallucinations than SA staff, who in turn had more confidence in the efficacy of psychological and pharmacological treat ments. UK staff reported significantly less social distance from this group of patients. The results suggest that the use of psychological approaches to helping people with auditory hallucinations could be affected by cultural views of the causes and treatment.
Community Psychiatry in Hong Kong
Authors: Pang Alfred H.T. , Yip K.C. , Cheung H.K. , Yeung Owen C.Y.
Published: March 2007

Community psychiatry is well developed in many western countries. However, this psychiatric subspecialty has only recently been officially recognized and estab lished in Hong Kong. This article describes the development and current scope of services. It illustrates how local psychiatrists have met the challenge of adopting a western service model to suit the local Chinese population, with its different socio- cultural value system.
Dropping Out From Child Psychiatric Treatment: Reasons and Outcome
Authors: Lai K.Y.C. , Chan T.S.F. , Pang A.H.T. , Wong C.K.
Published: March 2007

This study explores the reasons underlying dropping out from a child psychiatric clinic in Hong Kong, and the outcome of these children. A reluctance to accept psychiatric help, or the possibility of being labelled as psychiatrically ill, and differences between the families and doctors in their perception of the presenting problems are common reasons given for dropping out. A substantial number of children who dropped out continued to have some degree of psychiatric morbidity two years later. These results highlight the need to increase the community's awareness of the nature of child psychiatry, and for doctors to be sensitive to the families' perception of the presenting problems so as to minimise the likelihood of dropping out.
Urbanisation and Psychiatric Admission Rates in the Netherlands
Authors: Dekker J. , Peen J. , Gardien R. , De Jonghe F. , Wijdenes W.
Published: March 2007

This article discusses the possible links between urbanisation, demographic variables and psychiatric admission rates. Inpatient psychiatric admission rates were determined for the 647 Dutch municipalities. Then urbanisation was deter mined using 'area address density', a unit of measurement developed by the Dutch Central Statistical Office. Five degrees of urbanisation are distinguished. Twenty- nine demographic variables which might have a theoretical link with admission rates were collated for all municipalities.

The results show that standardised total admission rates increase with urbanisation. The mean admission rate for the least urbanised municipalities is 2.02 per 1000 resident population, the rate for the most urbanised municipalities is 3.72 per 1000. It was then found that the prevalence of demographic risk factors increased with urbanicity. At the same time, it was found that almost all demographic variables correlated with admission rates. A multiple regression model - which accounts for 22% of variance - shows that income distribution, address density and mortality all contribute significantly to the variance in admission rates for the 647 Dutch municipalities.
The Literary Aspects of Business Writing
Authors: Francis Henry E.
Published: March 2007

Should business writing be strictly fuctual, devoid of lit erary niceties? Dr. Franeis doesn't think so, and in this article lie identifies the three main elements of literary style and discusses their function in business and technical writing.
A Statistical Anaysis of the University of Houston Business Communication Laboratory Program
Authors: Stead Bette A.
Published: March 2007

In the Summer issue of this journal we were offered a de scription of the program in communications at the Univer sity of Houston. This article is an analysis of the results of a laboratory study of stu dents who had achieved low scores on an examination of verbal skills. The Houston laboratory proved to be help ful in strengthening student's verbal ability and might well be added to the communica tions offerings at other uni versities.
Simulation and Business Communication
Authors: Bale John T. , Coonrad Harold A.
Published: March 2007

Professors Bale and Coonrad discuss the problem of how to motivate students of business writing. They believe that the management game, played throughout the course, can secure student involvement in communication events. The game provides continuity and meaningful relationships in areas which students tra ditionally have found uninspiring in business writing courses.
COMMUNICATION TESTING PRACTICES: A Survey of Selected Universities
Authors: Cox Homer L.
Published: March 2007

Here are the results of a survey of communication teaching and testing practices in business divisions recognized by the AACSB. Educators identify writing skill as students' greatest weakness and rank tests of writing as less satisfactory than tests of skills in reading, speaking, and listening .
Communicating Policy Change in Programs To Train the Underprivileged
Authors: King Albert S.
Published: March 2007

Employing and training the underprivileged means changing employment stand ards. Conflicts arise in communicating the new policies, This article discusses some of the conflicts and the means of their resolution.
Communication Effects of Variations in Organization and Format
Authors: Devillier J. Lincoln
Published: March 2007

This article challenges several long-established principles of organizing written communications. Aids to easy reading or ready reference may rather be æsthetic preferences. Neither logical nor psychological order has any statistically signifi cant superiority.
The Effect of Message Treatment On Feedback in Business Communication
Authors: Almaney Adnan
Published: March 2007

This study of audience reception of four kinds of claim adjustment letters shows a significant difference in the reception of negatively and positively treated messages.
Improving Upward Communication
Authors: Wendlinger Robert M.
Published: March 2007

In 1972, the Bank of America began a new program in communication, called Open Line. This article, reprinted from their Management Magazine, describes the results of a year's operation of that program which aimed at improving communications in situations where employees (either officers or non-officers) felt that the normal channels of communication had broken down.
Strain-Gradient Effects on Force Transfer Between Embedded Microflakes
Authors: Pu S.L. , Sadowsky M.A.
Published: March 2007

In this paper the plane strain problem concerned with shearing stresses along the fiber-matrix interface due to a fracture of the adjacent fiber is solved anew based on Mindlin's strain-gradient theory of linear elasticity. Classical method of selecting proper stress functions and determining superposition constants to satisfy all homogeneous boundary conditions is used to obtain the auxiliary solution for the problem. Applying a Fourier integral transformation to the auxiliary solution both homogeneous and non-homogeneous boundary conditions are simultaneously satisfied. The exact solu tion is thus obtained in integral form. Numerical results of the solution for some selected elastic constants have been worked out and compared with results previously obtained based on classical theory and couple-stress theory.
A Continuous Process for the Production of Whisker Reinforced Composites
Authors: Kirkpatrick M.E. , Staudhammer K.P. , Reger J.L. , Toy A.
Published: March 2007

Various techniques have been proposed and developed for aligning the whisker reinforcing phase of metal matrix composites. Most of these techniques involve multi-step alignment processes, and are not suitable for economical, continuous production of metal-whisker com posites.

A laboratory scale, prototype system for the continuous dielectro phoretic deposition and alignment of micron sized, ultra high strength whiskers has been designed, developed and tested. This process consists of the deposition of whiskers onto one of two electrodes placed in a suspension of the whiskers, when a voltage is applied between the electrodes. By employing a metal matrix foil as the deposition elec trode, this technique has demonstrated that the continuous production of metal-whisker combinations suitable for fabrication into advanced whisker reinforced composites is feasible.

The volumetric loading of the reinforcing whiskers on the metal foil can be controlled by varying such process parameters as voltage, foil speed, electrode separation and geometry, and the concentration of whiskers in the supporting media. A discussion of these alignment and deposition process variables is presented.

The metal foils containing the deposited, aligned whiskers are then sandwiched into a preform structure consisting of successive layers of metal foil and fibers. Consolidation of the stacked layers into a com posite is accomplished by hot pressing and diffusion bonding. Photo micrographs of the consolidated composite, showing alignment of the whiskers and the microscopic composite structure are shown and discussed for a range of whisker compositions. Preliminary mechanical properties data for selected composite compositions are presented and discussed.
'Dinosaurs' Are Not Dead: the Amieu (Qld) and Industrial Relations Change
Authors: Jerrard Marjorie A.
Published: March 2007

With declining union membership and an Australian industrial relations climate hostile to trade unions, how do unions, particularly those regarded as 'classic'or 'traditional', adapt in order to survive? Shrinking industry bases often further com pound the situation facing these unions. The Queensland branch of the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union is such a union in such an industry. Denounced by critics as a 'dinosaur', the AMIEU (Qld) has demonstrated that it can adapt and evolve to meet the challenges raised by the Workplace Relations Act 1996 and industry employers, thereby answering these critics and rebutting this negative epithet.
Section 141 of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act and Natural Justice
Authors: Tracey R.R.S.
Published: March 2007

Disciplinary action by union councils often have been invalidated by the Australian Industrial Court because rules of natural justice were not followed. The major decisions of the Industrial Court, and other courts dealing with natural justice, are examined to demonstrate when natural justice must be accorded and to show what must be done to satisfy the requirements of natural justice. Most of the cases considered are characterized by the desire of the union council to act swiftly to penalize an official or member who has come into disfavour. However, this swiftness has meant that the accused member has not had an adequate opportunity to present his side of the story. Thus, if union councils wish to avoid a great deal of costly litigation a number of simple rules regarding natural justice should be observed.
Trade Unions and Their Operations
Authors: Dufty N.F.
Published: March 2007

Unions and their internal functioning are receiving increasing attention from the general public, political parties and academics alike. The purpose of this article is to survey briefly some of the literature on unions on the assumption that this may clarify some of the issues being faced by the Australian trade union movement. It may also help those within the unions as well as outside them to see the operation of these organizations in a new light.
Word Processors and Employment
Authors: Macdonald Stuart , Mandeville Thomas
Published: March 2007

Far too much easy pronouncement has been made about the effects of word processors on employment. Typical is the concept of a displacement ratio representing the number of typists each word processor will replace. Far too little attention has been paid to the importance of what a word processor actually does. This paper uses published sources to consider the functions, diffusion and costs of the word processor in Australia in order to show its impact on productivity and employment in a much broader context. The paper concludes that it is probably unhelpful to see the word processor as a direct threat to jobs when its greater impact on employment will be indirect, and ultimately consequet on the role it will play in the re-shaped office sector of a developing information economy.
Theories of Regulation and Australian Industrial Relations
Authors: Dabscheck Braham
Published: March 2007

Australian industrial relations research does not have a strong analytical or concep tual tradition. This paper applies theories of regulation to the study of Australian industrial relations. Theories of regulation are a new multi-disciplinary area of research which has developed in the last decade in North America. Public interest, life cycle, capture, bargaining, behavioural and jurisprudence theories are examined. The survival thesis is rejecied because of its assumption of passivity. An activist model of tribunal decision making is developed. Industrial tribunals balance the interests of the parties with their interpretations of what the problems of the moment require.
Promotion and Resignation of Men and Women Graduate Administrative Officers in the Public Service of Victoria
Authors: Frazer Murray C.
Published: March 2007

Two of the greatest social changes of the last few decades have been the substantial increase in the general educational level of new entrants into the workforce and the rise of the equal employment opportunity movement. Like other employers, the Public Service of Victoria has been affected by both of these changes.1 It now employs many graduates and many women in positions that a few years ago were all male and very largely non-graduate. During the 1970s several hundred graduates joined the Service as administrative officers, and the comparative promotion and resignation rates of the men and women in this group form the subject matter of this paper. The paper is not a comprehensive review of the literature; it presents, instead, a detailed and specific comparative study of these rates.
The Conduct of Union Disciplinary Hearings
Authors: Tracey R.R.S.
Published: March 2007

All of Australia's federally-registered unions have rules which create offences. A member who is charged with an offence may not be dealt with in an arbitrary fashion. The law provides a number of procedural protections for the individual in these circumstances. If they are not observed by the union committee which deals with the charges any action which the committee purports to take against the member is a nullity. This paper seeks to identify the relevant procedural protections and to provide guidance on their application for union officials who may be called on to hear and deal with charges.
The Role of Women in the Australian Labour Market: A Survey of the Literature
Authors: Eccles Sandra
Published: March 2007

This article surveys the Australian literature on the labour market involvement of women. The increasing prominence of women in the workforce has generated a research effort designed to investigate various aspects of women's employment, unemployment, work experience and earnings. Recently there has been an upsurge of interest in women's issues which has prompted an intensification of research into the role of women in the labour market. However, there remain a number of impor tant gaps in our understanding of that role, notably with regard to the workforce behaviour of women, the factors influencing the maintenance of occupational segregation of the sexes, and the significance and nature of discrimination in depressing the relative earnings of women.
At the Point of Production: Some Aspects of Workplace Industrial Relations
Authors: Goodman J.F.B.
Published: March 2007

Drawing on shop-floor case studies this article examines some of the values and sentiments which together with organisational, technological, market and other changes animate the processes of workplace industrial relations, and to which managers and workers appeal in seeking to mould the terms of employment in their interests. Thus some of the tensions of industrial relations may be visualised as an interplay of differing values held by managers and workers, which in part arise from their differing locations in the economic system. It is not suggested that these values outweigh the influence of power or interests. Rather they are seen, at different levels, as illustrating different perspectives, as potential sources of legitimisation for action, and as a linguistic resource or currency in discussion and argument between participants. The purpose of this article is primarily illustrative. However, it is suggested that the frequency of reference to values rooted in proprietorial and contractual concepts could offer a means of characterising management style in industrial relations.
Protection of Conscientious Objectors to Trade Unionism Under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act
Authors: Maroetts T.J.
Published: March 2007

The right to obtain exemption from trade union membership under section 144A of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 is not general but is limited to persons who hold a 'conscientious belief' that does not allow the joining of any industrial association. The applicant who satisfies the Industrial Registrar of the requisite belief is issued with a section 144A certificate, which exempts him or her from the operation of any award of preference covering the job he or she is performing. In this article, the right of an individual to obtain a certificate of exenrption is outlined and the effectiveness of the laws enacted to protect the certificate holders from employer discrimination and union pressure is critically assessed.
Rank and File Apathy: The Black Mountain Tower Dispute
Authors: Anderson Gil
Published: March 2007

Participation and apathy within the Australian Capital Territory branch of the Federated Miscellaneous Workers Union are examined both during 'normal' times and in a period of industrial action. Although there is ample opportunity for rank and file participation, and indeed this is encouraged by the leadership, only a small group of activists participate, while the vast majority of members are apathetic. The' activists have greater access to the union's organisational resources, something which became apparent during the period of industrial action examined. This threatened the internal cohesion of a section of the union, highlighting the weaknesses that result from a largely apathetic membership. Policies aimed at overcoming these problems would appear to lie in the area of improving communication between leadership and rank and frle. In the formulation of such policies, however, the extent and nature of membership apathy should be taken into account.
Women's Participation in the New South Wales Teachers Federation
Authors: Turtle Alison M. , Seymour Brenda , Anley Bronwyn , Barnard Ruth , Gilbert Kath
Published: March 2007

In proportion to their numbers in the membership of the New South Wales Teachers Federation, the representation of women at the senior decision-making and administrative levels of the union is low, a situation common amongst unions in Australia and overseas. In 1982, a postal survey was conducted on 1000 women members of the Federation, measuring a total of 67 socio-demographic, behavioural, attitudinal and personality variables. The group surveyed was so composed to enable a comparison between activists, all women who met a set of criteria for activism cast in terms of membership of decision-making bodies and attendance at meetings as established before the survey, and inactivists, a sample drawn from the remainder of the female membership in proportions representative of its structure in terms of twelve categories of employment status. The Federation woman activist of today has much in common with a broad spectrum of trade unionists past and present, but important new influences are relative freedom from a variety of domestic pressures, and acceptance of a range of feminist values.
Industrial Legislation and the Rise of Employer Associations, 1890-1906
Authors: Plowman David
Published: March 2007

The strikes of the 1890s have often been depicted as a watershed in Australian industrial relations history because of their long-term impact on theformation of the Labor Party and the introduction of compulsory arbitration legislation. Whether these strikes were the cause, rather than a catalyst, of such developments, they did result in legislation giving unions a greater degree of legal encouragement and protection than had previously existed. This paper argues that the continuous existence afforded unions by this legislation made it desirable for employers to organize into permanent associations. This form of organization contrasted with the previously transient associations designed to deal with unions on an ad hoc basis. These employer associations (which should not be confused with trade associations) spearheaded employers' opposition at the industrial, parliamentary and judicial levels against the new industrial legislation, especially that seeking to introduce compulsory arbitration. The paper argues that, until 1906, although employers had been unsuccessful in keeping compulsory arbitration legislation off the statute books in two states and at the Commonwealth level, they had been successful in restricting the scope and operations of those arbitration systems.
The Hancock Report and Workplace Industrial Relations
Authors: Fells R.E. , Mulvey C.
Published: March 2007

Workplace industrial relations are growing in importance. The extent of plant bargaining and the scope of the industrial relations agenda at that level have developed markedly over the recent past. Such a development risks the growth of an unregulated informal system of industrial relations. While the Hancock Report recognizes the need for more formal dispute and grievance procedures, it does not adequately deal with the problems arising at workplace level. This paper argues for a broad policy of formalized relationships at workplace level by various means but not through legislation.
Trade Union Advertising Campaigns: A Case Study
Authors: Crane Rod
Published: March 2007

A number of studies have focused on the role of the mass communications media in reporting on aspects of industrial relations, particularly trade union behaviour. However, virtually no attention has been given to attempts by trade unions to gain public support for industrial campaigns by means of advertising campaigns in the press and electronic media. This article examines the national advertising campaign conducted by the Australian Teachers Federation that commenced in May 1980. The rationale for the advertising strategy is considered, along with an assessment in terms of the strategic aims and overall policy objectives. Unfortunately, such an assessment faces a number of difficulties.
Orientations to Work: A Two-Stage Approach
Authors: Inkson Kerr , Cammock Peter A.
Published: March 2007

Different models of orientations to work tend to stress the importance to employees of extrinsic outcomes (e.g., money, security) at the expense of intrinsic outcomes (e.g., interest, variety) or vice-versa. Research conducted with manual workers, particularly engineering apprentices, indicates that need fulfilment in both areas is important, with both extrinsic and intrinsic factors assuming relevance, but in different areas of the person-job relationship. Extrinsic factors were emphasized in the seeking, gaining and holding of the respondents' jobs, but intrinsic factors were more influential when the worker was actually doing the job. This suggests the need for an integrative approach to the study of organizational behaviour. In such an approach, individual orientations and responses would be seen as deriving not primarily from either extrinsic or intrinsic factors, but from an interaction of both.
The Development of Military Industrial Relations in Australia
Authors: Pratr Graham
Published: March 2007

Military industrial relations issues in Australia have recently taken a higher profile with theformation of a specialist pay tribunal and the emergence of a representative personnel association. In traditional military settings, industrial relations matters usually receive little prominence because of the coercive and normative compliance structures associated with military employment. However, since the early 1960s studies of military organizations have raised the question of convergence between the military and other large organizations. These scholars have argued that post-war technological and social changes have largely removed the historical isolation of military systems. Applied to an industrial relations context, this thesis raises issues about Service personnel having greater access to civilian employee practices. A developmental analysis of changes in Australian military industrial relations since 1945 identified a progression from a traditional setting to one that, in some respects, resembles established civilian industrial systems. The analysis suggests that the convergence tendency is likely to continue.
Declining Union Density
Authors: Peetz David
Published: March 2007

Union density has been declining since thefirst Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey of trade union members in 1976. Between 1976 and 1982, changes in the industry composition of employment actually benefited trade unions. Since around 1982, however, this structural change has disadvantaged unions, and this accounts for around half the decline in union density since then. Changes in average establishment size may also have affected union density. The propensity for employees to belong to a union has been steadily falling since 1976. The decline in the propensity to unionize has accelerated since 1986, as has the deleterious impact of structural change upon union density. Factors that may have had an influence upon the declining propensity to unionize could include unfavourable legislative environments, a shift in public sentiment against unions during the 1970s, adverse reactions to the two-tier wage system and, possibly, management strategies. There is no convincing evidence yet that declining real wages, or centralized wage fixing arrangements as such, are primarily responsible.
Registered Settlements and Wage Flexibility in the New Zealand Private Sector
Authors: Harbridge Raymond , McCaw Stuart
Published: March 2007

New Zealand's system of private sector wage fixing has, since the election of the Labour Party to government in 1984, undergone several major reforms. These reforms (in 1984 and 1987) were designed to force union and employer parties to negotiate settlements without recourse to state intervention, and to increase the flexibility of bargaining outcomes. As part of this process the main actors have been encouraged to negotiate industry and enterprise-sensitive documents, rather than national, occupationally based awards. This paper examines wage movements in all settlements registered with the Arbitration Commission in the three wage rounds that have taken place since the end of the wage freeze in December 1984. Flexibility in wage movements is examined in the framework of oECD-related studies, and wage increments are measured across occupations, industries and regions. The results of this analysis show statistically significant wage differentials and suggest a higher level of wage flexibility than commentators have cared to acknowledge.
Women, Exploitation and the Australian Child-Care Industry: Breaking the Vicious Circle
Authors: Bennett Laura
Published: March 2007

In Australia in the 1990s, a complex combination of industrial and political factors interact with gender to produce the exploitation of child-care workers. Examination of the industry reveals the crucial role that government funding and policy play in determining working conditions. Analysis of the child-care industry also highlights the extent to which conditions in the industry are determined by a complex regulatory apparatus comprising legislation, regulations and departmental guidelines specific to the industry in addition to awards. Concentration on the characteristics of a distinctly female dominated industry reveals some of the limitations of mainstream industrial relations theory. It is clear that neither industrial relations nor feminism has yet provided the theoretical tools necessary not simply to explain the exploitation of women workers in such industries but also to overcome it.
Award Restructuring and Workplace Reform in New South Wales Road Freight Transport
Authors: Bray Mark
Published: March 2007

In recent years award restructuring has emerged as a major public policy instrument for encouraging workplace reform. This article examines the success of this strategy in New South Wales road freight transport at both the industry and workplace levels. While it is found that some significant changes were made to the primary industry- wide award as a result of award restructuring, it is apparent that more rapid and more radical change was prevented by conflict not only between union and employers, but also between different groups of employers. Perhaps more significantly, the impact of these award changes at workplace level is found to be minimal. This failure can be attributed partly to the parties themselves. Employers lacked the unity to achieve a wider agenda at an industry level. Management lacked the will and resources to realize the opportunities for major workplace reform that were presented to them. Union officials, but especially workplace delegates and the rank and file, were reluctant to accept management's agenda for change. However, a more complete explanation for the lack of workplace reform is the inappropriateness of the award restructuring model in an industry where product markets have long been competitive and industrial relations practices relatively flexible.
Post-Fordism: Historical Break or Utopian Fantasy?
Authors: Fieldes Diane , Bramble Tom
Published: March 2007

Since the mid-1980s there has been substantial debate about changes in the nature of production systems in Europe and North America. A range of writers, operating within a paradigm of post-Fordism, contend that traditional Western manufacturing methods, based on mass markets, mass production and Taylorism, are being replaced by strategies premised on niche markets, small-batch production and the upgrading of workforce skills and autonomy. In Australia it has been argued, chiefly by Mathews, that such changes have important implications for the labour movement. In particular, the new circumstances require a move from a confrontationist to a consensual approach to industrial relations by the trade unions. These claims are challenged in this article, both because of the determinist framework that informs them and because of their inability to explain the complexity of the changes that are taking place in the areas they address. An interpretation of recent developments, which places competitive accumulation at its centre, is suggested as an alternative paradigm. The implication that a post-Fordist strategy will reinforce the strength and integrity of the trade union movement is also questioned in the light of the later experience of the Accord.
Rugby League and the Union Game
Authors: Dabscheck Braham
Published: March 2007

The Association of Rugby League Professionals came to prominence when it achieved a legal victory which thwarted an attempt by the New South Wales Rugby League to introduce an internal draft, a labour market arrangement which reduced the employment and economic freedom of rugby league players. This article provides a history of the association from its origins in the late 1970s through to the draft case and more recent developments. The article presents information on player associations overseas and in Australia, and examines the origins, structure and organization, and various activities of the association. In so doing it provides information on the various labour market rules which have been used in rugby league, and examines the legal, economic and industrial relations dimensions of not only rugby league, but also other professional sporting competitions in Australia and overseas.1
Australian Wharfies 1943-1967: Casual Attitudes, Militant Leadership and Workplace Change
Authors: Sheridan Tom
Published: March 2007

In the 1950s and 1960s the waterfront was seen as the nation's major economic bottleneck. Its turbulent industrial relations were subject to greater publicity and polemics than the even more disputatious coal industry. This paper focuses on the nature and characteristics of the casual employees who moved the cargo in the days before container ships. It stresses the singularity of both the composition of the workforce and its attitudes to work, and examines the cause of policy disagree ments between rank-and-file wharfies and the militant union leaders whom they invariably elected. It is found that while contemporaries often attributed industrial unrest to Communist officials' machinations, in fact the rank-and-file members had a clear mind of their own. They tended to take a narrower, shorter run view than their leaders, who often sought in vain to restrain members' reflexive mili tancy. Wharfies were highly sertsitive to perceived threats to their level of earnings, were conservative about all changes to work practice and remained deeply at tached to the casual nature of their constantly varying work. Although favoured by their leaders, permanent employment was long distrusted by the rank and file. When technical change made decasualization inevitable, established group atti tudes meant that employers were unable to instil much company loyalty.
McKinsey, Hilmer and the BCA: The 'New Management' Model of Labour Market Reform
Authors: O'Brien John
Published: March 2007

This paper will discuss the origins and development of the labour market reform agenda pursued by the Business Council of Australia (the council). This agenda found its initial expression in the attempt to apply the McKinsey 'new manage ment' model of employment relations to the regulation of the labour market in Australia. The 'popular' management works of Fred Hilrner are discussed, as is their relationship to the various reports issued by the council from 1989 to 1993 on the development of enterprise-based employment relations. The paper will assess the extent to which the McKinsey-Hilmer-council discourse influenced the terms of the enterprise bargaining debate in the later 1980s and 1990s. In turn, there will be consideration of tlte extent to which the developments in the council's discourse were influenced by changes to the industrial relations system in the same period and the adoption of the enterprise discourse by other contributors to the labour market debate. The paper concludes that the council was able to take a leading role in establishing the hegemony of the enterprise discourse without necessarily achieving a regulatory regime that matched its 'new management' model of employment relations.
Women in Unions: What Progress in South Australia?
Authors: Pocock Barbara
Published: March 2007

Women have traditionally been under-represented in Australian trade unions. Declining union density and the desire for more equitable representation have stimulated union interest in women's participation and led to the adoption of various measures to increase their voice in unions. This paper outlines the results of a survey of women's representation in South Australian unions in 1992; the survey had an 84 per cent union response rate and includes unions covering about 85 per cent of unionists in the state. The results are compared with those of a similar survey in Victoria and earlier estimates.

The study gives a reliable snapshot of women's under-representation, which is persistent at all levels from shopfloor to federal councils. Women are generally under-represented, relative to their share of membership, in around three-quarters of unions at most levels—among workplace representatives, key state committee members and officials. They are especially under-represented at federal level. Overall, women make up 39 per cent of union members in the respondent group of unions, 32 per cent of shop stewards, 31 per cent of state councils, 20 per cent of state executives and 25 per cent of union officials. Women's share of positions declines as power increases: they are concentrated in appointed positions, among organizers and industrial and specialist staff. They are often found in positions outside the normal career paths to senior union office and political power. The study documents actions to increase women's voice in unions and shows that many unions are aware of the problems and taking some kind of action. However, comprehensive programmes have been adopted in only a small number of relatively large unions. The response of South Australian unions to the survey is outlined.
Enterprise Flexibility Agreements in Small Business: Rhetoric or Reality?
Authors: Barrett Rowena
Published: March 2007

The federal government's industrial relations reforms have aimed to decentralize industrial relations to the enterprise level. In order to encourage enterprise bargain ing in all Australian workplaces, division 3 of part VIB of the Commonwealth Industrial Relations Act 1988 enabled constitutional corporations to obtain a non- union enterprise agreement. This type of agreement is known as an enterprise flexibility agreement'. It was expected that enterprise flexibility agreements would act as a mechanism to extend enterprise bargaining to the small business sector. However; research reveals that fourteen months after the introduction of the legisla tion, only sixteen of the sixty-eight enterprise flexibility agreements approved by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission applied to small businesses. This find ing supports the argument that the formal system of ( federal) industrial relations has little impact on the manner in which industrial relations are conducted and regulated in small businesses. Indeed, this study would suggest that the federal government's reforms are largely irrelvant to small businesses.
The Cultural Diffusion of Scientific Management: the United States and New South Wales
Authors: Taksa Lucy
Published: March 2007

The significance of scientific management has traditionally been assessed by refer ence to the industrial labourprocess. Most studies have privileged the 'nuts and bolts' of this technology without considering its social impact. This approach has, I argue, obscured the way scientific management was diffused to other sectors, such as education. This paper identifies those scientific management principles and methods that were directed toward training and considers how they were adopted by American and Australian middle-class professionals to assist in their reeform of industry-related training during the early decades of the twentieth century.
Health and Safety Reform: A Review of Four Different Approaches
Authors: Harcourt Mark
Published: March 2007

New Zealand reformed its approach to occupational health and safety in 1992, with the passage of the Health and Safety in Employment Act and the Accident, Rehabilitation, Compensation, and Insurance Act. These legislative changes were not, for the most part, informed by a thorough review of the variaus policy options. This paper provides part of such a review by assessing the effectiveness of four different approaches to occupational health and safety. The first three approaches examined are found to have major deficiencies. The market approach of compen sating dangerous work with wage premiums is criticized, because workers nor mally lack the bargaining power to secure pay concessions or hazard prevention measures. The regulatory approach of setting startdards to limit hazard levels or to prescribe safe production methods is faulted for being difficult to errforce and difficult to apply to most hazards. The accident compensation approach of experi ence-rating employer levies to employee claims is also faulted for failing to tightly link employer costs to unsafe conditions. In contrast, the fourth approach of giving workers the right to refuse unsafe work is lauded for its advantages in both detecting hazards and providing incentives for their prevention and rectification. However, improvements on the North American variants of the right to refuse unsafe work are suggested to allow workers to refuse to work in a greater variety of unsafe circumstances without fear of being disciplined.
Who Cares? Child-Care, Trade Unions and Staff Turnover
Authors: Lyons Micheal
Published: March 2007

This article analyzes survey results from the female-dominated occupation of child-care. It examines job satisfaction and trade union membership in an industry that has high turnover rates. The article explores why child-care workers prefer the exit voice over the trade union voice despite a favotrrable attitude to trade unions generally. The article concludes that unless the political factors that dominate the industry are also addressed, the ability to reduce staff turnover, improve the industrial conditions of child-care and increase union membership will be extremely difficult, though not impossible, as the example of nurses in the 1980s demonstrates.
Out of Tune? Union Amalgamations and the Musicians Union of Australia
Authors: Michelson Grant
Published: March 2007

Relatively few trade unions were left untouched by the process of restructuring that swept through the Australian labour movement from the late 1980s. One such federal union that managed to remain autonomous despite such developments was the Musicians Union of Australia. Records indicate that the union has been engaged in amalgamation discussions on and off for a number of years;. this bas camouflaged substantial opposition to the idea within the union. Resistance to amalgamation had its origin in desires to preserve orgonisotional identity, to maintain the existing branch- based structure of the union, and to safeguard branch property and assets. Opposition was further intensified by certain historical differences between the Musicians Union of Australia and those unions with which it conducted negotiations. In this context the paper shows that despite considerable external pressure to participate in the amalgama tion process, the union did not produce the result intended by the primary sponsor (the Australian Council of Trade Unions) of tbe process. It also demonstrates how the industry-union model developed by tbe Australian Council of Trade Unions in 1987 was rejected by the Musicians Union. This suggests that theories of trade union amalgamation must incorporate a role for social agency effects and, in particular; the role played by full-time union officers.