bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Trade Union Strategy in the 1990s
Authors: Costa Michael , Duffy Mark 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe Trade Union movement enters the 1990s at the height of its political strength. The Accord relationship has proved to be flexible enough to accommodate the political and economic needs of both Accord partners. The trade union movement’s strategy for the 1990s has been formulated within the protective umbrella of the Accord.The trade union movement has both a vision of the future and an ambitious set of strategies aimed at securing its position within Australian society. The key challenge facing the movement is the reversal of the decline in trade union participation rates. Trade union amalgamation leading to the creation of 20 large efficient union federations will generate scale economies which will free up resources for recruitment campaigns and additional services.The strategy of the trade union movement requires critical examination in the light of structural changes to the economy, the diversity of the labour market and new management approaches to human resource management. These factors require that unions adopt a number of diverse strategies to secure the future of the union movement. New and more decentralised union structures may be required to unionise workers in non-traditional areas. The union movement needs to constantly review its strategies to ensure they remain relevant to changing realities.
What Should We Expect of Microeconomic Reform?
Authors: Chapman Ross 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis paper examines recent attempts to quantify the effects of some major microeconomic reforms on the Australian economy. These micro reforms improve competitiveness. Such measures, however, would apparently do little to raise the share of the manufacturing sector in national product despite induced improvements in competitiveness. The relationship between micro reform and the balance of payments is explored. Some attempts to measure the impact of specific micro reform on the environment are also analysed.
Deregulation and the Conduct of Monetary Policy
Authors: Monadjemi M. , Kearney C. 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis paper examines the evolution of monetary policy in Australia since the mid 1980s when financial markets were rapidly deregulated. The paper discusses the conduct of monetary policy within the framework of monetary targeting and how deregulation affected this framework. Alternative strategies for conducting monetary policy are discussed. However, it is argued that since 1985, monetary authorities have often changed the focus of monetary policy with no specific framework within which the policy is implemented.Deregulation has forced interest rates to become the main focus of monetary policy. But, since the deregulation of financial markets, the transmission mechanism by which interest rates affect the economy, has changed significantly.
The Liberal-National Parties’ Industrial Relations Policy: Deregulation by Providing an Enterprise Focus
Authors: Howard John 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe central objective of the Opposition’s industrial relations policy is to provide an enterprise focus to the current industrial relations system. Deregulation will be achieved by introducing voluntary unionism and creating an alternative industrial relations stream of enterprise-based voluntary agreements alongside the existing system. The new agreements will have the status of awards but will not be within the purview of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC). Over time, the alternative, deregulated system would become the predominant one as employers recognised its benefits and opted out of the centralised system. Greater flexibility would lead to greater productivity without the problem of wage break-outs.
A Decade of Striking Figures
Authors: Dabscheck Braham 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis article provides information concerning various aspects associated with industrial disputes or strikes in Australia in the years 1980 to 1990. Losses to production and output from other sources are compared to those that result from industrial disputation. Australia’s strike record is compared to that of other OECD countries. An explanation is developed concerning Australia’s propensity for a high proportion of short strikes, and disputes which end with a resumption of work without negotiations. The article also explores reasons for the decline in the level of industrial disputation which occurred in Australia during the decade of the 1980s.
Economic Arguments for a New Consumption Tax
Authors: Freebairn John 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe revenue, efficiency, distributional and simplicity effects of using a GST to replace some existing indirect taxes and to reduce income taxation are assessed. Replacing the wholesale sales tax (WST), the general revenue raising portion of petroleum excise and payroll tax with a goods and services tax (GST) promises efficiency gains and negligible net redistribution. The principal case for using a GST to fund reductions in Australia’s hybrid income tax system is to increase the productivity of saving and investment.
The Liberal-National Party Fightback! Package: A Distributional Analysis
Authors: Raskall Phil 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis paper examines the distributional analysis of the impact of the Fightback! package on Australian households. The paper examines the veracity of both the results presented and the analysis undertaken by the Opposition. The critique by the Treasury is investigated, as are omissions by both Treasury and the Opposition. Some attempt to measure the direction and significance of these excluded impacts is also analysed.
The Coalition and Voluntary Industrial Agreements: Some Constitutional Questions
Authors: Craven Greg 
Published: March 2013

AbstractIn an earlier issue of this Journal the Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations outlined the Coalition’s industrial relations policy. A major ingredient of that policy is the provision of voluntary industrial agreements. This article reviews the constitutional heads of power under which any future Coalition government may seek to legislate for voluntary industrial agreements. It suggests that they could be major impediments to such legislation.
Removing Poverty Traps: Taxation and Welfare Reform in Australia
Authors: Cashel M. , McGavin P. A. 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis article uses data on the interactions of income taxation and state welfare transfers on effective marginal tax rates (EMTRs) in Australia to argue policy reforms for removing poverty traps created by high EMTRs. This highlights the need for state welfare and income taxation reforms to target those elements of income taxation and social welfare interaction that are most significant for high EMTRs and for high EMTRs extending across wide incomes ranges. Proposed welfare changes involve simultaneous reductions in base-level state welfare transfer payments, along with eligibility for supplementary transfer payments for able persons that are proportional to market labour activity. Proposed taxation changes include removal of distinctions between taxable and tax-exempt state welfare transfers and a gradually-progressive revised taxation scale.
The APPM Dispute: The Dinosaur and Turtles vs the ACTU
Authors: Thompson Herb 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis article examines the Australian Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd. (APPM) dispute which took place in Burnie, Tasmania between March 3 and June 10, 1992. The dispute is placed within the context of major changes in Australian industrial relations, which have been in process since 1986. Management and unions throughout Australia are still experimenting with a variety of industrial weapons to achieve their aims and goals within the parameters of the “Structural Efficiency Principle” and “enterprise bargaining”, constructed in Accords III through VI, from 1986 to the present.It is argued that the crucial change during the past six years has been the ability of companies to re-establish managerial prerogative through litigation. This has provided management with the power to confront secondary issues and agents of change such as the Accord, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, Structural Efficiency, Enterprise Bargaining and Restructuring with a new vigour, toughness and effectuality. Increasingly docile, debilitated and legally disabled union officials and workers seem to be coming to the view that a union victory occurs if the company agrees to abide by the law while directing its workforce, and recognises the workers’ right to be represented by a “third party”.
Compulsory Unionism and the AWIRS: Redrawing the Map
Authors: Wooden Mark 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis paper uses AWIRS data to examine two related questions. First, how extensive are closed shop arrangements in Australia and second, what factors are associated with closed shop coverage? The paper draws heavily on earlier work by Gianni Zappala, but argues that Zappala’s estimates substantially overstated the extent of the closed shop. Moreover, unlike other studies of the closed shop (both in Australia and overseas), this paper utilises multivariate techniques to isolate the impact of the different factors thought to be associated with closed shop coverage.
The Determination of Interest Rates and the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy in Deregulated Financial Markets
Authors: Neal Penelope N. 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis paper examines two issues pertinent to the effective implementation of monetary policy: firstly, the ability of the monetary authorities to control interest rates and secondly, whether interest rates have exhibited a leading, relationship with economic activity since deregulation of the financial markets. If expenditures are unresponsive to changes in interest rates it is shown that the monetary authorities have the ability to determine the interest rate but if the authorities attempt to push interest rates into regions in which expenditures become interest rate elastic, a role for liquidity preference in determination of the interest rate is restored. This limits the effects of discretionary monetary policy to the short-term. Previous empirical studies, graphs and correlation coefficients indicate only limited evidence for a negative association between interest rates and changes in economic activity whereas Granger causality tests indicate that predictable relationships between interest rates and economic activity have existed in Australia for the period in which financial markets have been deregulated.
Strong on Policy Suggestions, but Weak on Analytical Framework: A Review of the Green Paper on Restoring Full Employment
Authors: Nevile J.W. 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe Green Paper makes the fundamental point that rapid economic growth of around 4 to 5 percent a year is necessary to substantially reduce unemployment, but even 5 percent growth will not greatly reduce the numbers of long-term unemployed. Policies targeted specifically at this group are also necessary. Its analysis of the policies conducive to rapid economic growth and its arguments that things like more rapid productivity growth and reductions in the participation rate have little effect on unemployment in the medium to long run are supported by simulations of the Murphy model which assumes the results that the Green Paper argues that it demonstrates. On the other hand, the Green Paper is rich in policy suggestions to reduce long—term unemployment and to improve the working of the labour market. The Job Compact is central but improvements to social security and education and training are also important.
What Enterprise? Whose Bargain? Politicians Face Their Principals
Authors: Davis Glyn , Gardner Margaret 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe introduction of enterprise bargaining poses a fascinating dilemma: with whom should politicians negotiate about their wages and conditions? The question has different implications for Labor and the Coalition. The form of enterprise bargaining proposed by the Government can accommodate current arrangements for MP salaries, though not without some special pleading. The more radical proposals of the Coalition, which emphasise a principal—agent relationship between employer and employee, pose greater challenges. This paper explores the dilemma of salaries for MPs under enterprise bargaining, and suggests a policy solution which ensures that politicians are subject to the rules they propose for others.
Long-Term Unemployment: The Role of Wage Adjustments
Authors: Lewis Philip E.T. 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe problem of long-term unemployment has, at last, taken centre stage in the policy debate with the publication of the Green Paper Restoring Full Employment. While economic growth will reduce the general level of unemployment, to return the long-term unemployed to work will require increased training and reduction of labour costs. More recently the concept of a ‘training wage’ whereby employers would be allowed to pay below the current award wage to previously long-term unemployed has received some support. The Green Paper did not give much attention to training wages, preferring instead to focus on wage subsidies. In this paper the case for wage adjustments is discussed and evaluated.
Wage Differentials and Youth Unemployment
Authors: Plowman David 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThere has been an increase in the rate of youth unemployment since the 1960s. Initially this increase was masked by the increased number staying on in the education system and the resultant drop in the participation rate for the under 20 age group. It is contended that the compression of youth/adult wage relativities since the 1970s has affected both the demand and supply for young workers. Demand has dropped since the experience premium attached to adult wages has been reduced. In the context of unemployed adult workers, the latter will be preferred to younger workers and new entrants to the labour market. On the supply side increased relative wages have induced more young workers into the labour force, increased the participation rate for this age group, and thus further increased the rate of unemployment. The persistence of this problem over time has given rise to relatively high levels of long-term youth unemployment Policy options to remedy this social and economic problem are necessarily constrained. On the industrial relations front a constraint is trade union antipathy to youth wage reduction policies which could give rise to generalised wage reductions. This paper proposes the extension of the special provisions of awards which permit for reduced payments as a means of assuaging union concerns.
The Authority of the ACTU
Authors: Griffin Gerard 
Published: March 2013

AbstractMost studies of the role of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) have argued that the peak-council has traditionally had little if any authority over its affiliates. This paper contends that this situation changed during the 1980s and that the ACTU achieved a significant degree of internal union authority. Examples of such authority are documented and the combination of external factors, such as the political and economic environment, and internal factors, such as leadership and reduced factionalism, that contributed to this growth of authority are analysed.
The Workforce of the Future: Implications for Industrial Relations, Education and Training
Authors: Lansbury Russell D. 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis paper examines new forms of work organisation which may emerge in the coming decade, as the distinction between white and blue collar work fades and occupational status is defined more in terms of skills and knowledge. Demarcation barriers between skilled and unskilled work, trades and professions will become less relevant as multiskilling and inter-changeability of personnel becomes a requirement in most organisations. The proportion of self employed in the workforce will also increase and most people will work on contracts rather than be guaranteed long-term employment with one organisation. Few people will pursue the same occupation throughout their working lives. Retraining will become a constant requirement to ensure that skills remain relevant. While the latest technologies will continue to be used in order to maintain a high standard of living, there will be pressures on industry and governments to retain some labour intensive forms of work in order to contain levels of unemployment. Three possible scenarios are presented for the future of work in the twenty-first century.
Good While it Lasted: The Position and Prospects of Australian Unions in 1993
Authors: Easson Michael , Forrest Tom 
Published: March 2013

AbstractSince the Australian union movement’s representational peak in the mid 1970s, the industrial, economic and political landscape has considerably changed While the election of the Hawke Government in 1983 provided much cause for optimism among the union movement, the experience of the 1980s decade has proven to be cathartic. This paper examines the union movement’s response to the changes of 1980s; examines the development of the Accord and details the ongoing implementation of strategies for its restructuring.
Workplace Finland: New Forms of Bargaining and Participation
Authors: Alasoini Tuomo , Kauppinen Timo , Ylostalo Pekka 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe era of incomes policy agreements appears to have ended in Finland, with negotiations focused at sectoral and local levels, although this could change with a return to a Social Democratic-led Government. While representative systems of participation have not been abandoned, the authority of unions delegates at the workplace appears to have declined. There has also been a growth in direct forms of participation, initiated by management, and associated new forms of work organisation.
Enterprise Bargaining: The Truth — A Reply
Authors: Rimmer Malcolm , Watts Lee 
Published: March 2013

At issue in this debate is whether the relative productivity question in the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (AWIRS) can give reliable data for the dependant variable in Crockett, Dawkins and Mulvey’s equations. We claim it cannot; they claim it can.Their Comment suggests the argument turns on four points:(i)Does the distribution of responses suggest effects which might pollute the data?(ii)Did the ‘subjective’ nature of the productivity estimates leave scope for ‘error’?(iii)Are the likely statistical effects of this ‘error’ important?(iv)Do independent and informed authorities support their judgement that the data is useable?
The Tax Issues That Will Not Go Away
Authors: Warren Neil 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe last decade has seen major changes made to the taxation system in Australia. However, these changes have been primarily concerned with income tax reform. Three areas of the tax reform remain outstanding - wealth taxation, State tax reform and commodity tax reform. Wealth taxation has proven a politically sensitive issue subject to little public discussion, a situation not helped by a lack of data on wealth distribution in Australia. State taxation has been the focus of more public debate through a number of Government funded reviews but despite this, few of these report’s recommendations have been implemented. Although the issue of commodity tax reform has been the subject of considerable public debate, it too has resuted in no substantive reforms. This paper argues that until the political dimension of tax reform is taken more fully into account when designing tax reform proposals, the debate on these three tax issues will not move from words to legislation.
Sociotechnical Interventions and Teams in Australia: 1970s-1990s
Authors: Griffiths Andrew 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis paper sets out to highlight some of the major sociotechnical and team interventions in Australia from the seventies through to the nineties. The review notes that teamwork interventions have changed over the last two decades and argues that this may be attributed partly to the popularity and influence of Japanese management approaches during the eighties along with changes to the industrial relations institutions. Team interventions associated with earlier sociotechnical and participant design approaches, undertaken in the seventies, concentrated on changing work and jobs as a way to address quality of work life concerns. In contrast, many Australian organisations which are presently implementing teams are linking them to broader organisational design issues, taking into account product flows, customer and supplier focus, product innovation and support systems. It is noted that later-style team interventions are linked closer to an organisation’s strategic goals.
The Role of Unions in Sociotechnical Systems
Authors: Baird Marian 
Published: March 2013

AbstractIn 1980 Dr F. Emery published a paper discussing the design of socio-technical systems for ‘greenfield sites’. In his paper Emery argued that a new and different paradigm of work, which is based on ‘co-operative, symmetrically dependent relations’, is more easily introduced into ‘greenfield sites’ and that ‘most matters can be negotiated beforehand with trade union officials’ (1980:19&21).In this paper the author explores the use of socio-technical design in a greenfield plant, and its application in an old, or brownfield plant of the same company. The socio-technical approach is embodied in the new production model being introduced, which is called a high commitment work system Of specific interest is the role of unions in the sites. Two questions are addressed in this respect. Are unions involved in the design and implementation of the socio-technical system? What are the implications for the future of the unions in these two sites?
How Often Should Native Forests be Logged? A Case Study on the Eden Management Area
Authors: Hartley Stephen 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe question of how often to log is examined applying two different methods – one optimizes over time the value of its timber harvested and the other considers the forest as a multi-use resource. The former, applied to data for the Eden area given an optimal rotation period of 25 years, the latter suggests that it is optimal never to harvest pristine native old growth forests.
Reforming The Australian Workplace Through Employee Participation
Authors: Lansbury Russell D , Davis Edward M , Simmons David 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe past decade witnessed a wide range of industrial relations reforms in Australia. Employee participation and industrial democracy was espoused by the Labor government (1983–96) as a key element in its workplace reform program. It was also embraced by the trade union movement and, to a lesser extent, by leading employers and their associations. A case study of employee participation in the Ford Motor Company is used to illustrate the process of workplace reform in Australia during this period While Ford Australia provides a positive example of workplace change, it is argued that the promise of employee participation has not generally been fulfilled in Australian industry. Contributing factors identified in the paper include economic recession, the decline of trade union membership and a lack of ‘people’ skills in managerial ranks.