Some Observations on Workplace Reform: The Australian Experience

Abstract

The Accord changed Australian industrial relations during the 1980s. What has been characterised as an historically militant union movement tolerated wage decreases, the lowering of tariffs and progressive moves to dismantle arbitration. This personal retrospective describes the pressures which have forced Australia to reconstruct and revitalise both industry and workplace management. The pressures which saw the emergence of the Accord are described and its strategies, successes and consequences facing management with particular reference to participative principles emerging following workplace reorganisation during the 1980s and 1990s.