The Metal Trades Industry Association, Bargaining Structures and the Accord

Abstract

As part of his more general argument about employer reactivity in Australia, David Plowman has asserted that the disunity of Australian employer associations has inhibited their success in initiating policy debates or strategically reshaping bargaining structures. However, this paper, in examining the industrial relations strategies and policies of the Metal Trades Industry Association under the Accord, argues that the association seized substantial initiative in policy debates relating to bargaining structures and in influencing the pace and direction of change regarding the progressive implementation of enterprise bargaining in Australia. This had nothing to do with unity or disunity among employer groups, but related to factors internal to the association, its industry-and, in particular, the associa tion's evolving relationship with the industry's unions-and to circumstances regarding the public policy-making process.