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Union responses to regulatory change: Strategies of protective layering

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Kaine

    (University of Technology Sydney, Australia)

  • Cathy Brigden

    (RMIT University, Australia)

Abstract

Changes to the Australian regulatory landscape over the past three decades of global liberalisation created regulatory uncertainty for unions. Coupled with membership decline and internal restructuring through union amalgamations, they prompted an important reorientation by unions (back) to the workplace, and precipitated different strategic decisions and organising challenges. However, the proliferation of fragmented employment relationships rendered workplace-centred organising an insufficient response. As a result, some unions experimented with ways of supplementing existing legal frameworks by other regulatory initiatives, through campaigns that resulted in the layering of regulation. In this article, we examine attempts by three unions – covering garment workers, road transport workers and aged care workers – to address the needs of members in garment homeworking, road transport and aged care in a contested regulatory environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Kaine & Cathy Brigden, 2015. "Union responses to regulatory change: Strategies of protective layering," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 26(4), pages 614-630, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:26:y:2015:i:4:p:614-630
    DOI: 10.1177/1035304615615275
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bradon Ellem, 2013. "Peak Union Campaigning: Fighting for Rights at Work in Australia," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 51(2), pages 264-287, June.
    2. Thelen,Kathleen, 2004. "How Institutions Evolve," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521546744.
    3. Shaun Wilson & Benjamin Spies‐Butcher, 2011. "When Labour Makes a Difference: Union Mobilization and the 2007 Federal Election in Australia," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 49(Supplemen), pages 306-331, July.
    4. Rae Cooper & Bradon Ellem, 2008. "The Neoliberal State, Trade Unions and Collective Bargaining in Australia," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(3), pages 532-554, September.
    5. Thelen,Kathleen, 2004. "How Institutions Evolve," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521837682.
    6. David Sadler & Bob Fagan, 2004. "Australian Trade Unions and the Politics of Scale: Reconstructing the Spatiality of Industrial Relations," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 80(1), pages 23-43, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Piotr Żuk, 2017. "Employment structures, employee attitudes and workplace resistance in neoliberal Poland," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 28(1), pages 91-112, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment regulation; informal regulation; institutional layering; labour law; regulatory layering; regulatory pluralism; reinforcing labour regulation; supply chain labour standards; trade union strategy; union campaigning;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law
    • L50 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - General

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