Australian Industrial Relations in the 1980s

Abstract

Australian Industrial Relations in the Eighties provides a critical and analytical commentary on the major macro-level developments of the 1980s. It examines the centralized wage determination system known as wage indexation at the beginning of the decade, its demise in 1981, the operation of decentralized wage determination in 1981 and 1982, and the Fraser government's wages freeze introduced in late 1982. The book then examines the corporatist or consensus policies associated with the election of the Hawke government in March 1983. Information is presented on the Accord negotiated between the ALP and ACTU, the April 1983 National Economic Summit Conference and the subsequent reintroduction of wage indexation. When the July 1985 Taxation Summit failed to reach agreement on taxation reform, the economy experienced major balance of payments problems. Fears associated with Australia becoming a 'banana republic' led to the negotiation of the Accord Mark II, the demise of the second wage indexation experiment and the eventual introduction of a two-tiered system in March 1987. The meaning of reform is examined, and a detailed account of the 1985 Hancock Report is presented. The 'New Right' have advocated a policy of management militancy and an associated need to take on, if not destroy, unions and industrial tribunals. Their ideas concerning 'The Club', common law actions, the role of industrial tribunals and markets are presented and examined. Details of the ill-fated 1987 Industrial Relations Bill are presented, as well as the Trade Development Council/ACTU document Australia Reconstructed with its Swedish-style corporatist blueprint for Australia, and proposals concerning industrial relations changes to the Australian Constitution recommended by a Constitutional Commission.

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