Abstract
The Cole Royal Commission enquiry into the building and construction (abbreviated to ‘construction’) sector recommended controversial workplace-relation reforms for that sector. The recommended changes are likely to be enshrined in legislation within the year. The Commission drew on analyses of industrial disputes that focused, in the main, on quite recent experience. This paper attempts to give a broader historical perspective on disputes in that sector by considering the pattern of disputes for the entire post-World War II period. Accordingly, data on disputes and employees during the entire period are gathered from Australian Bureau of Statistics current and archived sources. These data are classified according to sector (construction versus non-construction) and analysed. It is found that the strike rate has, on average, been greater in the construction sector than in the non-construction sector. However, there have been periods during which disputes in the construction sector have been relatively low. The most recent period was during the period of the Accord (1983-96), during which the strike rate in the construction sector fell relatively strongly. The analysis of this relatively broad historical period draws attention, among other things, to the possibility that the sort of strategies employed during the Accord years – strategies of cooperation and consensus building – may provide a more effective means of bringing industrial peace to the workplace relations scene of the construction sector than policies that are relatively confrontational.
Highlights
In July 2005, the Howard Coalition government gained a majority in the Senate
Given the importance of likely future workplace relations changes designed essentially to reduce strikes1 and disquiet in the construction sector, this paper examines the broad history of industrial disputes in the construction sector
This paper has identified, among other things, the changing pattern of industrial disputes in the Australian construction sector relative to the rest of the economy
Summary
In July 2005, the Howard Coalition government gained a majority in the Senate. This majority will enable the government to implement a number of legislative changes which it has, in the past, been prevented from fully implementing. Given the importance of likely future workplace relations changes designed essentially to reduce strikes and disquiet in the construction sector, this paper examines the broad history of industrial disputes in the construction sector. The data on industrial disputes and employees are compiled into separate series for the construction sector and the rest of the economy. The first section gives background data on current union membership numbers for the construction sector and the rest of the economy. The third section examines the changing pattern of industrial disputes in the construction sector relative to the rest of the economy. During 2004, mean weekly earnings of full-time construction employees were about 13 per cent higher for unionists compared to non-unionists. For Australia as whole, mean weekly earnings of all full-time employees were about 5 per cent higher for unionists compared to non-unionists (ABS, 2005c)
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