THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SERVICE BOARD INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY POLICIES:1973–1979*

Abstract

Abstract: This paper discusses the reaction of the South Australian Public Service Board to government industrial democracy policies between 1973 and 1979. As the administrative agency most directly responsible for management policy and practice in government departments, the Board's commitment to government policies was necessary for their implementation in departments. Between 1973 and 1975 the Board's support was obtained in two ways. First the government policy of the time was developed by a Committee of Inquiry into Worker Participation which was chaired by a Public Service Commissioner, who became Chairman of the Board in 1973. Secondly the policy itself was consistent with a broader program of “managerial modernization” then beginning. In 1975 the Labor Party adopted a more radical Industrial Democracy policy, which the Board was initially reluctant to adopt. The government sought the Board's support by strengthening the Unit for Industrial Democracy as a policy group, and inviting the Board to participate in a Committee to adapt the policy to the public service. The public service policy issued by the Board in 1976 was less prescriptive and more pragmatic than the ALP policy. New administrative arrangements which accompanied the policy statement implied that the Board was no longer as independent in this area as it had been. By the latter part of 1976 the Unit had emerged as the most influential group in the implementation of the policy. To assist implementation it sought influence over many Board management programs, and also proposed amendments to the Public Service Act. A new Board appointed in 1977 gave qualified cooperation to the Unit, but displayed an increasingly independent attitude to industrial democracy. The policy was given lower priority in the more conservative political environment of 1979. The study throws light on the relationship between policy and administration in the personnel field in the public sector.