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Work Choices in Overview: Big Bang or Slow Burn?

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  • Andrew Stewart

Abstract

The Work Choices legislation represents a concerted attempt to tilt the balance of labour regulation in favour of employers. It does this by allowing them to offer agreements that reduce or eliminate award or statutory entitlements, by making it harder for both workers and unions to contest management decisions, and by sidelining the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. It also seeks to ‘move towards’ a national system of regulation by providing that the majority of employers will be exclusively subject to federal rather than State regulation, at least for some purposes. Yet for all the radical nature of many of the changes, this is not the ‘big bang’ it might have been. Many features of the old arbitration system have been retained and there are genuine compromises at the heart of some of the changes. It also remains to be seen just how quickly employers will move to exploit the opportunities the new legislation offers, given its complexity, opposition from unions, and indeed the natural pragmatism or conservatism of many managers — and whether this will prompt further intervention by a government that appears uncomfortable with leaving it to employers to make their own choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Stewart, 2006. "Work Choices in Overview: Big Bang or Slow Burn?," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 16(2), pages 25-60, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:16:y:2006:i:2:p:25-60
    DOI: 10.1177/103530460601600203
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stewart, A, 2005. "A Simple Plan for Reform? The Problem of Complexity in Workplace Regulation," Australian Bulletin of Labour, National Institute of Labour Studies.
    2. Unknown, 2005. "Review of National Competition Policy Reforms," Inquiry Reports 31898, Productivity Commission.
    3. Productivity Commission, 2005. "Review of National Competition Policy Reforms," Others 0506004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Productivity Commission, 2005. "Review of National Competition Policy Reforms," Inquiry Reports, Productivity Commission, Government of Australia, number 33.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jeff Borland, 2011. "The Australian Labour Market in the 2000s: The Quiet Decade," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: Hugo Gerard & Jonathan Kearns (ed.),The Australian Economy in the 2000s, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    2. Iain Campbell, 2007. "Long Working Hours in Australia: Working-Time Regulation and Employer Pressures," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 17(2), pages 37-68, April.
    3. Peter Haynes & Peter Holland & Amanda Pyman & Julian Teicher, 2008. "Free-Riding in Australia," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 29(1), pages 7-34, February.
    4. John Burgess & Iain Campbell & Robyn May, 2008. "Pathways from Casual Employment to Economic Security: the Australian Experience," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 88(1), pages 161-178, August.

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