No abstract

The amendments to Schedule 1B of the Workplace Relations Act have given the government substantially new means of controlling the internal affairs of industrial organisations. At the government's behest, the Review of Current Arrangements for Governance of Industrial Organisation (the review), used concepts borrowed from the Corporations Act as a basis for recommendations regarding union accounts, accounting procedures, fiduciary obligations of office-holders and organisational rules. This study is a critique of the review and the consequent amendments. It argues that notions borrowed from the Corporations Act are inappropriate for unions and will cause problems for them. The amendments also contradict the government's avowed policy of deregulation of labour market institutions.

No abstract

Few studies, if any, have sought to examine the problem of co-existing federal and state registration of Australian industrial unions within a broader industrial relations perspective, and more specifically within the context of factionalism. This article seeks to rectify this deficiency. It shows how union factions use the federal system and the legal uncertainties surrounding the notion of corporateness as weapons in their intra-union battles. The first section of the article examines briefly the legal dimension of co-existing registration and the leading decisions of Jumbunna Coal Mines v. Victorian Coal Miners Association, Williams v. Hursey and Moore v. Doyle. The second analyzes more recent cases in the context of factionalism. The third reviews three Federal Court judgments to illustrate the current state of judicial thinking on the issues of corporateness and the interaction of federal and state registration provisions. The final section critically reviews legislative 'solutions' to the problem.

No abstract