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This article discusses the concept of the skill ecosystem in the context of the network oriented literature on learning and skill acquisition. Three critical features of skill ecosystems are identified and then applied to an analysis of the abattoir sector of the Australian meat processing industry. The analysis highlights the important role of the employee union in the skill ecosystem, including maintaining a flow of new entrants into the sector. The article then examines the impact of major institutional change, through the deregulation of industrial relations, on the ecosystem. It concludes by discussing the applicability of the skill ecosystem concept to a mature, low-skill industry such as meat processing and then draws some conclusions about the limitations of the skill ecosystem concept itself.

The purpose of this article is to identify various ways unions engage with communities and to understand the obstacles that confront union-community cooperation. Qualitative data was analyzed from multiple sources, including documentary evidence and interviews with union officials and community activists. We locate the debate on community unionism within the broader literature on union renewal and revitalization. In doing this we are able to explore the potential of different forms of union-community relationships to foster union renewal. The study reveals the diversity in relationships both within and across unions and the existence of coalitions operating at different levels within union organization. While the unions in this study were actively seeking to engage with the community, not all alliances were reflective of an inclusive social and political agenda which could constitute the basis for union renewal.

With declining union membership and an Australian industrial relations climate hostile to trade unions, how do unions, particularly those regarded as 'classic'or 'traditional', adapt in order to survive? Shrinking industry bases often further com pound the situation facing these unions. The Queensland branch of the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union is such a union in such an industry. Denounced by critics as a 'dinosaur', the AMIEU (Qld) has demonstrated that it can adapt and evolve to meet the challenges raised by the Workplace Relations Act 1996 and industry employers, thereby answering these critics and rebutting this negative epithet.