Work and Industrial Relations Policy in Australia

Bradon Ellem is a Professor of Employment Relations at the University of Sydney. Chris F. Wright is Professor of Work and Labour Market Policy at the University of Sydney. Stephen Clibborn is Associate Professor of Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney. Rae Cooper is Professor of Gender, Work and Employment Relations at the University of Sydney. Frances Flanagan is Lecturer in Law at the University of Technology Sydney. Alex Veen is Senior Lecturer in Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney.

“This is a valuable contribution from leading Australian thinkers about work today and the role of the state in shaping it. It closely analyses the impact on work of societal trends and how recent changes to workplace law have sought to respond. I commend this book to all who are interested in how the state can influence the world of work - for better or for worse.” Senator The Honourable Murray Watt, Australian Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations.“Path-breaking books often perform a task that, one is surprised, was never addressed before. This innovative volume examines how the Australian state regulates its labour market and provides a surprise of just this kind. It presents a novel analysis of the different methods the state in Australia has used to regulate trade unionism, gender relations, productivity, migration, and precarious forms of work, foregrounding the state as an industrial relations actor in a manner that has not been attempted before. The book is a great success. With luck, it will inspire non-Australians to develop similar analyses for their own countries.” Edmund Heery, Cardiff University“Work and Industrial Relations Policy in Australia is an extremely thorough, modern, and forward-looking analysis of how public policy regulates and helps shape work. The authors provide a rich historical analysis of conventional industrial relations policies and incorporate contemporary issues of gender equity, climate change, gig work, immigration, and worker voice. In doing so the book is both a valuable resource for students, practitioners, policymakers, and academics in Australia and a model for those who might undertake similar analyses in other countries. Hopefully, their international peers will follow suit.” Thomas A. Kochan, MIT Sloan School of Management and Institute for Work and Employment Research

• 1. Introducing Industrial Relations Policy2. Understanding Work, the State and Policy3. Policy in Australia: Origins, Change and Legacies4. The Fair Work Policy Framework5. Voice: Worker Representation and Collective Bargaining6. Equity: Gender and Work7. Efficiency: The Productivity Debate8. Skills and Immigration: Addressing Workforce Supply and Demand9. Policy Failure: Underpayment and Insecure Work10. Policy Subversion: The Gig Work Problem11. The Climate Crisis and Industrial Relations12. Assessing Australian Industrial Relations Policy