Labour Market Deregulation in Australia: The slow combustion approach to workplace change

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 1990s Australia has experienced a gradual but far-reaching process of labour market deregulation. Labour market deregulation has proceeded primarily through the dismantling of the distinctive system of awards-the main avenue of external, protective regulation in Australia for much of the 20th century. This paper examines labour market deregulation and its implications for the Australian workforce. It situates the changes in terms of their institutional starting point in the award system and the growing pressures in the 1980s for increased labour market flexibility. It argues that labour market deregulation is amplifying existing trends to growth in precarious employment, wage dispersion and the development of a low-pay sector amongst full-time employees. In addition, it is sponsoring a significant fragmentation of working-time arrangements.

Pathways from Casual Employment to Economic Security: the Australian Experience

“…Campbell and Brosnan (2005) sketch out an explanation that refers to historical agents and that seeks to grasp the peculiarities of the Australian situation. This is perhaps the most promising effort so far in the discussion of causes (see also Campbell and Brosnan 1999;Pocock et al 2004, pp. 21-23).…”

“…There has been a shift towards an active and punitive workfare type of arrangement with respect to welfare access for the unemployed; the public employment service has been privatised; the agreement-making process has been decentralised; the long-standing national arbitration system has been marginalised; trade unions are subject to extensive and close regulation; and managerial prerogative at the workplace has been enhanced (Campbell and Brosnan 1999;Isaac 2005). As a consequence there are fewer regulations governing working hours; penalties associated with long and unsociable hours have been systematically eroded; and average working hours for full-time employees are amongst the highest across the OECD (Watson et al 2003, ch.…”

“…Australia has gone through a prolonged period of labour market ''reform'' (Campbell and Brosnan 1999;Isaac 2005) aimed at reducing the regulations and protections surrounding employment. There has been a shift towards an active and punitive workfare type of arrangement with respect to welfare access for the unemployed; the public employment service has been privatised; the agreement-making process has been decentralised; the long-standing national arbitration system has been marginalised; trade unions are subject to extensive and close regulation; and managerial prerogative at the workplace has been enhanced (Campbell and Brosnan 1999;Isaac 2005).…”

Labour market reform and potential inequality of outcomes: The Australian story

“…Government policy has also encouraged a move towards labour market flexibility, achieved largely, amongst other things, through the spread of enterprise bargaining and a corresponding decline in compulsory conciliation and arbitration, which was a key feature of Australia's industrial relations landscape prior to the 1980s (Campbell & Brosnan, 1999).…”

“…Changes to the industrial relations system in Australia did not occur with the same severity and speed. According to Campbell and Brosnan (1999) there was gradual but fundamental process of labour market deregulation, characterised by 'slow combustion rather than Big Bang [the New Zealand experience], and it continues to splutter and send out sparks' (Campbell & Bronsnan, 1999:354). However, the changes have been of a fundamental nature, particularly in the way in which labour relations have been altered.…”