Enterprise Bargaining and Productivity

Hancock, Keith

doi:10.1080/10301763.2012.10669441

Cited by 14 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Since 1983, both real average weekly earnings and real average weekly ordinary time earnings have risen well short of labour productivity increases (Figure ) This contrasts with the period from 1965 to 1980 when real earnings exceeded productivity (Hancock , Figure 3). After 1980, the divergence went the opposite way.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Why Are Australian Wages Lagging and What Can Be Done About It?

Isaac

2018

Australian Economic Review

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Wages in Australia have lagged behind the growth in labour productivity in recent years. This has been associated with a significant change in the distribution of income in favour of high-income earners. Although a number of factors appear to have been involved in this development, an important explanation is also to be found in the change in the balance of power in favour of employers and against workers and unions. As changes in industrial relations laws have contributed substantially to this imbalance, a return to the earlier laws may be necessary to restore the institutional mechanism for wages growth.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Why Are Australian Wages Lagging and What Can Be Done About It?

Isaac

2018

Australian Economic Review

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“…Hancock, 2012;Jefferson and Preston, 2013;Peetz, 2012). Its final report concluded that enterprise agreements aimed at promoting productivity improvement are 'highly desirable, but such agreements, and the gains they deliver, should arise from better management, not from a regulated requirement, which is likely to have perverse effects ' (2015: 58).…”

Section: Productivity Commission Inquiry Into the Workplace Relationsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Australian industrial relations in 2015

Wright

2016

Journal of Industrial Relations

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For Australian industrial relations, no major legislation was passed and few significant judgements were handed down in 2015, but several inquiries held over the course of the year and the consequences arising from political leadership changes might ultimately be seen as 'critical junctures' from which important developments subsequently unfolded. In particular, the Productivity Commission's inquiry into the Workplace Relations Framework and the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption recommended several major changes that may eventually come to fruition. This article analyses the implications of these inquiries and emerging issues in the lowwage sector, and provides an overview of the articles in the 2016 Journal of Industrial Relations Annual Review issue.

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“…There is a wider debate around the link between trade unions and economic performance (Peetz, 2012) and industrial relations systems and economic performance (Calmfors and Driffill, 1988). In their discussion of the link between industrial relations systems, Australian industrial relations reforms and productivity, Burgess and Waring (2006) noted that missing from the discussion was an agreed concept of productivity and any unambiguous evidence linking productivity with industrial relations reforms, a notion further progressed by Hancock (2012). It has been largely an article of faith in the media and by business groups that productivity is an unambiguous concept with unambiguous estimates available and that it can be improved through decentralised (and individual) bargaining arrangements (Australian Industry Group, 2005;Business Council of Australia, 2005).…”

Section: Bargaining and Productivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Enterprise Bargaining Still a Better Way of Working?

Townsend

Wilkinson

Burgess

2013

Journal of Industrial Relations

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In 1989, the Business Council of Australia (BCA) produced a blueprint for change titled ‘Enterprise based bargaining units: A better way of working’. To a great extent, this document and the corresponding shifts in business, government and union approaches to wage and conditions determination meant that Australia shifted from a centralised to a workplace system of bargaining. After more than two decades of enterprise bargaining, though, we ask the question: Is it still a better way of working? While the Business Council of Australia pointed to a panoply of advantages, we look at the other side of the argument. Decentralisation may be inefficient at a number of levels. First, there is the procedure of bargaining and the resources, expertise and time that is required. Second, there are the outcomes of bargaining, where despite a more individual focus, in many cases, outcomes demonstrate very little variation across enterprises. Finally, there are the collateral consequences of bargaining: conflict, reduced trust and disruption. Is enterprise bargaining still meeting the needs of the actors or has the model run its course? We consider two case studies of bargaining that demonstrate the limitations and advantages of enterprise bargaining.

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Enterprise Bargaining and Productivity

Cited by 14 publications

References 1 publication

Why Are Australian Wages Lagging and What Can Be Done About It?

Why Are Australian Wages Lagging and What Can Be Done About It?

Australian industrial relations in 2015

Is Enterprise Bargaining Still a Better Way of Working?

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