Emeritus Professor Mark Bray

This paper identifies a model of enterprise bargaining which has recently been advocated by some Australian employer groups. Under this ¿autonomous enterprise'model, ¿genuine¿ enterprise bargaining is supposed to produce comprehensive agreements which set terms and conditions of employment which are company-specific. The experience of enterprise bargaining in the Australian domestic airline industry is then compared with that model. It is found that, contrary to the model, the two major airlines have negotiated enterprise agreements which are remarkably similar, with wage increases and workplace reforms following strong industry-wide trends. The explanation offered for the lack of enterprise autonomy focuses on both institutional factors and structural features of the industry's product. © 1996, University of New South Wales. All rights reserved.

In recent years award restructuring has emerged as a major public policy instrument for encouraging workplace reform. This article examines the success of this strategy in New South Wales road freight transport at both the industry and workplace levels. While it is found that some significant changes were made to the primary industry- wide award as a result of award restructuring, it is apparent that more rapid and more radical change was prevented by conflict not only between union and employers, but also between different groups of employers. Perhaps more significantly, the impact of these award changes at workplace level is found to be minimal. This failure can be attributed partly to the parties themselves. Employers lacked the unity to achieve a wider agenda at an industry level. Management lacked the will and resources to realize the opportunities for major workplace reform that were presented to them. Union officials, but especially workplace delegates and the rank and file, were reluctant to accept management's agenda for change. However, a more complete explanation for the lack of workplace reform is the inappropriateness of the award restructuring model in an industry where product markets have long been competitive and industrial relations practices relatively flexible. © 1992, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

Recent literature on management strategy is drawn upon to analyse managemnt initiatives in New South Wales road transport during the 1960s. In this industry, t strong competition of the time, combined with union action that raised labour cos led to managers both increasing direct control over wage labour within the labo process and switching to indirect control methods through the use of contract labo Three main points emerge from the case-study. The first is the importance of analysi management's choice of industrial relations strategy in the wider context of prodi market and technological contingencies. Second, the growth of contract labour provic a reminder that management does not inevitably respond to competition by assumi greater direct control within the labour process. The third is the valuable insights in industrial relations that can be gained by forusing on management and strategic chol. © 1986, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

The study of contract labour and its implications for industrial regulation has been neglected in Australia. As an initial attempt to remedy past neglect, this paper offers an account of contract labour (in the form of self-employed o wner-drivers) and its regulation in one section of the road transport industry, namely, the delivery of ready-mixed concrete in the Sydney metropolitan area. This industry represents an unusual example of contractors becoming strongly unionised and establishing an effective pattern of joint regulation over their rates and conditions. The close relationship between the contractors and the Transport Workers Union has also led to the industry playing an important role in the wider struggle between unions and employers in New South Wales over legislation designed to regulate contract labour. © 1984, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.