Employer Militancy in Australia
What is meant by employer militancy? How have employer actions towards trade unions changed since the end of the 1980’s? Why have Australian employers undertaken this change of approach?
This essay will answer the three essay questions put forward. Firstly, it will briefly explain what is meant by employer militancy. It will outline the main features of the aggressive approach adopted by employers in their relations with trade unions since the 1980’s. Secondly, this essay will describe the changes in employer actions towards unions. It will outline the different phases that have occurred during the change as well as discussing trends which illustrate the growing tendency of employers to either confront or avoid dealing with unions or circumvent dealing with them completely. Lastly, this essay will put forth reasons as to why Australian employers have undertaken this change of approach. It will outline multiple factors, such as economical, political and changes in legislation that will help to explain this change in approach. This essay will also incorporate the decline in trade union coverage as both a result and a cause of this change in approach.
Since the 1980s, Australian employers have become increasingly hostile towards trade unions over and due their perceived excessive involvement in bargaining for employment conditions, arbitration and disputes. This has created the phenomenon that’s been termed employer militancy. Alexander et al. (2008:97) define employer militancy as ‘willingness of employers to use legal action to secure punitive damages against a trade union’.
The paper will discuss minicases on ‘The White-Collar Union Organizer’ and ‘The Frustrated Labor Historians’ by Arthur A. Sloane and Fred Witney (2010), to understand the issues unions undergo in the marketplace. There is no predetermined statistical number reported of union memberships in this country. However, “the United Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) excludes almost 2 million U.S wages and salary employees, over half of whom are employed in the public sector, who are represented at their workplaces by a union but are not union members. Not being required to join a union as a condition of continued employment, these employees have for a variety of reasons chosen not to do so. Nor do the BLS estimates include union members who are currently unemployed” (Sloane & Witney, 2010, p.5). Given this important information, the examination of these minicases will provide answers to the problems unions face in organizational settings.
Wallerstein, M. & Western, B. 2000. Unions in Decline? What Has Changed and Why? Annual Review of Political Science. 3: 355-377.
Dabscheck, B. , Griffen, G. and Teicher, J. (1992), Contemporary Australian Industrial Relations, Longman Chesire, Melbourne.
Trade unions represent groups of workers on a collective basis. The most important trade union is the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), which is the peak union body to which most unions are affiliated. Trade unions membership has declined substantially from the 1970’s with an average membership of 55% to just 23% in 2003. This is caused by the increase in casual and part time employment, growth in industries with low union membership such as retail and the decentralization of wage determination.
The labor union movement over the years has shaped the way individuals work and live for both the nicest and unpleasant. Some would think the unions influence has created a power struggle between management and union leaders. In today’s time, some citizens insist the existence of unions are a must to aid in employee freedom, while others view the labor unions as just another problem in the line of progress. The purpose of labor unions was for employed workers to come together and collectively agree on fundamental workplace objectives. The rise of the union came about after the Civil War- responding to the industrial economy. Surprisingly at the least unions became popular within the 1930-50’s and began to slowly decrease, starting in the 1960’s on to today. Although, the popularity of labor unions has decreased, its importance remains to be evident with politics, journalism, auto, and the public education industries. The objective of this paper is to shine light upon labor unions, taking a closer look at the disputed issues of union ethics, concerns of union diversity, and the opposing viewpoints of labor unions.
The rise of industrial age led to the rise of industrial factory systems. As the industries grew larger as well as the workplace, it required more employees. As the employees grew in the workplace, their relationship with the employer became less personal hence individuals lost power. (History of Labor Unions Summary & Analysis, 2014) emphasizes that there was little to nothing an individual could do to pressure a large industrial business to increase his/ hers wages or shorten his/hers hours or provide a better working environment. The increasing migrants in Australia during the 1960’s continually replenished the supply of unskilled workers making it difficult for any employee to attain any leverage in negotiations with their employers. This led to employee’s embracement of collective action which then led to the rise of unions. According to (Burchielli, R 2006) Unions are seen as the power house of employees in the workplace, their role was to give employee a collective bargaining with their employers for better working environment, better wages and benefits such as paid leave. However union membership have decreased over the last couple of decades, according to (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2013) in 1986 46 % of employees were members of trade unions by 2007 the figures have dropped to only 19%. There...
Union efforts to improve the lives of workers consistently met with resistance, oftentimes violent, from businesses, police and the government throughout their turbulent history; and yet unions have persevered and were able to improve working conditions. The National Labor...
Factories were known for their ill treatment of their employees, long hours and dirty and unsafe conditions. In 1866, unions started to form to improve working conditions for the workers. A fundamental problem faced by democratic societies is as long as people live their lives individually and go their separate ways and be selfish individuals, they are unlikely to meet collectively to resolve issues. There needs to be meaningful unity among people to alleviate this problem to get people obliged to one another, so there is a willingness to sacrifice for shared goals. Bonding of its citizens creates a democracy. Unions seemed to offer the middle class a chance to become a crucial part of fostering institutions of constitutional democracy. The unions have went through several transitions, but have always worked for the working force. I will discuss the history of the various unions, their wins and losses, and the struggle of the employee to achieve democracy in the workplace.
David Brody argues that the rise of contractual or collective bargaining relationships during the post WWII era formalized the relationship between employers and unions, but simultaneously began to put a break on shop floor activism. Explain Brody’s argument and, where relevant, incorporate Weber’s theory of bureaucracy.
Sappey, R., Burgess, J., Lyons, M., & Buultjens, J. (2009) Industrial relations in Australia: work and workplace. Frenchs Forest: Pearson Australia.
Flanagan, R. J. (2005). Has Management Strangled U.S. Unions? Journal of Labor Research, 26(1), 33-63.
Willman, P. (2004) 'Structuring Unions: The Administrative Rationality of Collective Action' in Kelly, J .and Willman, P. (eds.) Union Organisation and Activity, pp. 73-89 London: Routledge.
Labor relations emerged as response towards combating the economic unrest that accompanied the 1930 Great depression. At this period, massive unemployment, decreasing salary and wages, and over competition for jobs despite poor working conditions, was being experience; especially in the US. In turn employees were aggravated and therefore resorted to labor strike that often escalated to violence. To avoid such incident that could potentially harm further an ailing economy, the US government set precedent by passing their first related Labor relationship act, also referred to as the Wagner act. This act excluded public sector and some employees in the informal sector, farm workers to be specific. However, the progressive change in business and labor environment, necessitated changes in the labor laws to ensure they are more inclusive (Haywood & Sijtsma, 2000).
(2014 p.366) in the appendix we can see the various form of industrial conflict some forms is easy to see and some are hidden, Some of the conflicts are active and trying to improve the working conditions like: salary, workplace safety, OH&S and many more and some are defensive to preserve the current relations or prevent from laying off staff or firing. Strikes are not the only factor that damaging the employers, there are many other factors and behaviors that can affect business productivity such as: Absenteeism or sabotage is a way of employees to respond to uncongenial working conditions, low morale, wastage of resources, inefficiency and high labor turnover which can add on losses to the business or the whole economy. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) defines industrial dispute as: … withdrawal from work by a group of employees, a refusal by an employer or a number employers to permit some or all of their employees to work, each withdrawal or refusal being made in order to enforce a demand, to resist a demand or express a grievance. (ABS
There are many different approaches and theories regarding industrial relations nowadays. In order to mount an opinion on which is the ‘best’ or most appropriate theory of industrial relations, each theory will have to be analyzed. The three most prevalent theories of industrial relations which exist are The Unitarist theory, The Pluralist theory and The Marxist theory. Each offers a particular perception of workplace relations and will therefore interpret such events as workplace conflict, the role of trade unions and job regulation very differently. I will examine each of these theories in turn and then formulate my own opinion regarding which is the ‘best’ or most appropriate theory.