Surveying the Practice of Joint Consultation in Australia

Abstract

In the last few years, a number of articles have pointed to the groiving relevance of joint consultation within Australian workplaces, a view which is stipported by the data from the 1990 Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. The purpose of this paper is to extend the brief analysis contained in Industrial Relations at Work, and analyze the role played by joint consultative committees across employing organizations as a whole. In particular, evidence is examined relating to the growth/ decline of consultation, its links with other mechanisms for developing employee involvement, the rationale for its implementation at work, the shape and character of joint consultative committees, as well as the participants' attitudes towards these schemes. There appears to have been an increase in consultation recently, and—contrary to some observers—the committees themselves seem to be well received by those who are involved in them. The analysis also suggests that at least two rather different models of consultation appear to be operating in Australia, largely dependent upon the degree and strength of unionization at the workplace. It is argued that the links between consultation and collective bargaining should be more closely examined if there is a further move towards devolved negotiations in Australia.