Work Choices in overview: big bang or slow burn?

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.Andrew Stewar

The Australian labour market in 2006

2006 generally represented a solid year in terms of macroeconomic performance and labour market indicators, even under the threat of increasing inflation and interest rates. However, some favourable aggregate labour market indicators disguised major disparities at disaggregated regional, sectoral or demographic levels. The major development in the labour market was the implementation and operation of the Work Choices legislation, which will shape the industrial relations landscape in Australia for many years to come. This article presents an analysis of the performance of the macroeconomy and labour market, and reviews the developments of the Work Choices legislation

The (continuing) importance of industry studies in industrial relations

In the context of a recent tendency towards industrial relations studies at the level of either the nation or the enterprise, the aim of this article is to demonstrate the continuing importance of industry studies. Three main arguments are advanced to support this assertion, based respectively on the empirical and public policy relevance of industries and the potential of industry studies to develop theory