Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8bljj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-16T19:06:03.435Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Enterprise Bargaining: An Overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Nicholas Blain
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The primary aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate on the merits of enterprise bargaining by providing a wideranging overview. It provides a comprehensive definition of enterprise bargaining which enables a broad range of perspectives to be encompassed and helps to structure the discussion of the immediate context and the wider policy settings of the debate. The paper demonstrates that enterprise bargaining is not new. It identifies a number of current or proposed systems of enterprise bargaining the present federal system, the New South Wales model the BCA proposal the Federal Liberal/National Party approach, and the New Zealand model. These are then evaluated, making use of a simple conceptual framework. The analysis indicates that each system has its advantages and disadvantages, its supporters and critics. Its findings suggest that positive and negative features of all models should be taken into account, not only in the continuing debate on enterprise bargaining, but also in the improvement of existing enterprise bargaining systems and in the design of new models.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , June 1993 , pp. 77 - 97
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Thanks for most helpful comments are due to Professors Joe Isaac and David Plowman, and to Senior Deputy President Keith Hancock and Commissioner Gavin Fielding. I am indebted to Karen Willet for very valuable research assistance.

References

Agreement between the Federal Government and the ACTU (Accord Mark VI), 21/2/90.Google Scholar
Australia, Industrial Relations Act 1988.Google Scholar
Australian Industrial Relations Commission, National Wage Case, April 1991: Statement; Reasons for Decision; and Submissions.Google Scholar
Australian Industrial Relations Commission, National Wage Case, October 1991: Statement; and Reasons for Decision.Google Scholar
Blain, Nicholas and Norman Dufty, “Industrial Relations in Western Australia”, The Journal of Industrial Relations, December 1990, Vol. 31 No. 4. pp 552–578.Google Scholar
Blain, Nicholas “The Changing Climate of Industrial Relations in Western Australia” in Appleyard, R. T. (ed.) Western Australia into the Twenty First Centurv: Economic Perspectives CEDA, St George Books, 1991, pp 164 178.Google Scholar
Business Council of Australia, Industrial Relations Study Commission. 1989. Enterprise-based Bargaining Units: A Better Way of Working.Google Scholar
Callus, R., Morehead, A, Culley, M., Buchanan, J. (1991). Industrial Relations at Work. AGPS, Australia.Google Scholar
Easson, M., Shaw, J. eds. (1990). Transforming Industrial Relations. Pluto Press, Sydney.Google Scholar
Frenkel, Stephen, Peetz, David , (1990) “Enterprise Bargaining: The BCA’s Report on Industrial Relations Reform”, The Journal of Industrial Relations. Vol. 32 No. 1. Pp 6999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hancock, Keith (1991) “The New Wage Principles”, Unpublished Paper.Google Scholar
Harbridge, Raymond, Moulder, James (1992), “Freedom to bargain: a review of the first year of bargaining under New Zealand’s employment contracts legislation”, Communication presented to the 9th World IIRA Congress, Sydney.Google Scholar
Isaac, J. E. (1968) “Compulsory Arbitration in Australia”, Task Force on Labour Relations, Study No. 4 (Queen’s Printer), Ottawa.Google Scholar
Kelly, D. (1990). Defining the “Workplace” in Workplace Industrial Relations. ACIRRT Working Paper No 4, University of Sydney.Google Scholar
Liberal and National Parties of Australia, 1992. Jobsback! The Federal Coalition’s Industrial Relations Policy.Google Scholar
Niland, J. (1989). Transforming Industrial Relations in New South Wales. NSW Government Printer, Sydney.Google Scholar
NSW Department of Industrial Relations, Employment, Training and Further Education. (1990). Enterprise Ageements: A Practical Guide. Sydney.Google Scholar
Plowman, D.H. (1992). “An Uneasy Conjunction: Opting Out and the Arbitration System”, The Journal of Industrial Relations. Vol. 34 No. 2. pp 284–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rimmer, Malcolm , (1989) “Enterprise and Industry Awards” in Industrial Relations Study Commission, Enterprise-based Bargaining Units: A Better Way of Working, BCA Melbourne.Google Scholar