History Of Industrial Relations Research Articles

Research Note: Industrial Arbitration Transcripts and Related Sources in the NSW State Archives, 1902-91

The New South Wales (NSW) State archives collection administered by State Records comprises records from all areas of government administration from 1788 until the present. The collection encompasses the key documents that have established our system of government and justice and the records that have been created in response to legislative and administrative developments and changes. The Industrial Arbitration Act 1901 (NSW) is a milestone in the history of industrial relations in New South Wales. The transcripts of hearings that were generated by it and later amending legislation are an important part of the collection. They document changing practices and conditions in the workplace, the workers' struggles for better pay, conditions, rights and entitlements, and the attitudes and policies of employers and workers and those who represented them. This research report looks at what records are available, which agencies1 created these records and how they can be accessed using State Record's online and other finding aids for the period between 1902 and 1991.

Trade Union Recognition and Australia’s Neo-Liberal Voluntary Bargaining Laws

When Australia deregulated its economy in the 1980s, political pressures built up leading in the 1990s to the dismantling of Australia’s industry-wide conciliation and arbitration systems. New laws established regimes of collective bargaining at the level of the employing undertaking. This article analyzes the 1993 and 1996 federal bargaining laws and argues that they fail to protect the right of trade unions to bargain on behalf of their members. This is because the laws do not contain a statutory trade union recognition mechanism. The recognition mechanisms in the Common Law countries of the United States, Canada, Britain and New Zealand are examined, and it is argued that Australia should enact trade union recognition mechanisms that are consonant with its industrial relations history and practice.

Resurrecting the Sunshine Harvester Works: Representing and Reinterpreting the Experience of Industrial Work in Twentieth-Century Australia

The Sunshine Harvester Works, occupying the same site from 1906 until 1987, was unquestionably one of the more significant workplaces in the history of industrial relations in twentieth-century Aus...

Trabalho: o desafio democrático

O texto aborda o atual momento de reestruturação produtiva das empresas, com suas políticas de gestão participativa e de envolvimento dos assalariados, segundo um ponto-de-vista que as enquadra no interior de um contexto mais amplo: da democratização da sociedade brasileira e da formação de uma esfera pública que contemple a relação entre capital e trabalho como constitutiva. Nesse sentido, são postas em confronto uma matriz contratualista e uma matriz corporativa enquanto duas linhas-de-força em disputa na história das relações industriais no País. A discussão sobre o fordismo é feita sob a ótica daquela confrontação. As virtualidades de uma via contratualista são associadas à vaga de negociações que têm tomado corpo no sindicalismo nos últimos anos, aproximando-as de uma prática que enfatiza o aspecto procedimentalista dos acordos, chamando a atenção para o caráter inovador que eles tomam em um ambiente histórico tradicionalmente arredio à presença pública dos representantes do mundo do trabalho.

The future of U.S. private sector unionism: Did George Barnett get it right after all?

George Barnett has the unenviable reputation of making one of the most ill-timed, inaccurate forecasts in the history of industrial relations. Only six months after predicting trade unionism would further decline in the U.S., union organizing swept over the nation in mid-1933 and union density jumped nearly three-fold in the course of a decade. While Barnett's forecast was wildly at odds with the course of unionism in the shortmedium run, viewed over the long run (i.e., the remainder of the twentieth century) it appears more prescient. When he made his prediction, private sector union density stood at roughly 12 percent; seventy years later it is at 9 percent.

Management and the Taff Vale Strike of 1900

The Taff Vale Railway strike of 1900 stands as a landmark in the history of industrial relations in Britain. There is a substantial literature dealing with the strike and resulting court case. Yet relatively little attention has been paid to the underlying pressures and tensions which gave rise to the strike nor to its wider consequences: the focus hitherto has been on labour, politics and labour law rather than the dynamics of the struggle between capital and labour which raged throughout the railway industry. The strike resulted from a clash between an assertive labour movement and a beleaguered management with little financial room for manoeuvre. Victory for capital paved the way for far-reaching changes in technology and working methods without conceding the gains to labour through the agency of trade union action.

Employers, labour, and the state in industrial relations history: a reply to Gospel

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Labor's Fragile Juggernaut

Labor’s Fragile Juggernaut Kevin Boyle (bio) Robert H. Zieger. The CIO, 1935–1955. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995. x + 491 pp. Illustrations, notes, and index. $39.95. My best friend’s father was a sit-down striker, a member of the working-class vanguard that built the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). He hardly seemed to fit the role. When I knew him, he and his family lived in a bungalow in a working-class neighborhood in Detroit. He was a union electrician for the city, a devout Roman Catholic, a World War II veteran who kept a portrait of himself in uniform hanging on the living room wall, a Democrat who spent one summer vacation taking his son to see Hyde Park. He was a shy man who liked to golf and to tinker with cars. But in 1937 he had helped to transform the history of industrial relations. He had done so reluctantly. The son of Polish immigrants, he was a neighborhood kid, eighteen years old in the spring of 1937, anxious to find work. Like many others of his class and generation, he followed his family’s path, taking a job at the factory where his father had labored for the previous twenty years, the Chrysler Corporation’s Dodge Main plant in an industrial suburb of Detroit. On March 8, 1937, a few weeks after he started work, Dodge Main’s workers laid down their tools and demanded union recognition. My friend’s father, hoping to avoid trouble, headed for the plant gates. But the sit-downers blocked his way, insisting that he stay inside the factory. Thus did he join the CIO’s pantheon of heroes. I often thought about my friend’s father as I read the historiography of the CIO. He never quite fit the various profiles historians offered of those workers who led the CIO’s great surge forward in the late 1930s. He certainly was not a member of the militant masses that Art Preis described in an early history of the CIO. He was not looking to alter the balance of power on the shop floor, as some scholars argued in the early 1980s. He was not the “new species of worker . . . rootless [and] dispossessed” that Steven Fraser says was most receptive to the CIO message. He was not even particularly interested in participating in the CIO “culture of unity” that Lizabeth Cohen has so effectively described. Similarly, it was difficult to reconcile the man I knew with the bleak picture of the post-World War II CIO common in the literature. [End Page 641] His world did not seem circumscribed by the CIO’s bureaucratization or by its incorporation into the state apparatus. On the contrary, he seemed to have benefited from those trends, which gave him the resources he needed to raise his family in greater comfort than he had experienced as a child. But his success had not turned him against that segment of the working class who did not enjoy the protection of unionization, as scholars suggest happened in the postwar era. 1 He remained a liberal who believed in the efficacy of social reform and in equal rights. Why couldn’t I make my friend’s father fit with my reading? Was his story simply an oddity, a messy detail that had no wider meaning? Or could the historiography be altered in a fashion that would account for my friend’s father? Could he become part of the framework of the CIO’s history, just as he had been part of its construction? The CIO, 1935–1955, Robert H. Zieger’s masterful study of the industrial labor federation, provides just such a framework. Zieger claims that his aim is simply “to get the historical record of the CIO as right as I can” (p. 5). But in fact he pursues a much broader goal. Building on extensive reading of the secondary literature and on exhaustive research in the primary sources, Zieger offers a new interpretation of the CIO from both the leadership and rank and file perspectives. At once judicious and bold, his interpretation sets a new standard for the study of...

Brentano on Prosperity and the Decline of Fertility

Lujo Brentano (1844-1931) was a prominent German liberal economist and early advocate of trade unions. Trained in law as well as economics, he spent most of his life as a professor of political economy in Berlin, Breslau, Strassburg, Vienna, Leipzig, and Munich. His writings extend widely over the subjects of labor market behavior, the history of industrial relations, social security systems, the theory of value, and the determinants of fertility. Brentano is not regarded as an original theorist, and in population studies he is often seen as a less importantfigure than his younger countryman and contemporary Paul Mombert, but his writings stand up well in analytical breadth and general good sense. article reproduced below appeared under the title The doctrine of Malthus and the increase of population during the last decades, ' in Economic Journal, Volume 20 (1910). It is a summary of a considerably longer piece, Die Malthussche Lehre und die Bevolkerungsbewegung der Letzten Dezennien, that was published in the Transactions of the Historical Section of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences in 1909. In it, Brentano presents an account of thefertility decline underway in Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, tying the decline principally to growing affluence and the changes this wrought in individual preferences and in the family economy. In effect, the subject is the demographic transition and its causes. Brentano cleanly separates effects on marriage rates from those on marital fertility and where appropriate standardizes for age and marital status. His explanations recognize the common motivations but the distinct circumstances of the different socioeconomic classes and of men and women. Malthus is used as a straw man-unjustly so, since Brentano's 'conspicuous contradiction' in Malthusian doctrine is simply a difference in the extent to which the poor are seen as acquiring new preferences along with added income and therewith being more ready to apply a prudential check' on their fertility. Brentano 's position echoes that of J. S. Mill, who considered himself wholly in line with Malthus's views on the subject-albeit more optimistic in his assessment of his fellow man and willing to allow contraception to qualify as prudence rather than vice. (Brentano has little to say about contraception, other than the allusive comment that -[i]t is well known . . . that the diminution of the birth-rate which accompanies increasing prosperity does not imply an increase of sexual continence. ')

Labor History, Industrial Relations, and the Crisis of American Labor

In this look at the disciplinary history of industrial relations and labor history, the author focuses on the long period of disassociation between the two fields and the growing contact between them in the 1980s. He suggests that industrial relations scholars became more receptive to historical modes of thought when events such as the decline in union membership (starting in the mid-1970s) and the sharp recession of 1981–82 proved that industrial relations could not be treated like a static system, describable by invariant laws of labor economics. Similarly, he argues, labor historians, who were able to concentrate on writing “history from the bottom up” during the era of mature collective bargaining, have recently shown a revived interest in the study of institutions, politics, and power.

From labour history to the history of industrial relations

This article advances a new conception of labour history as the history of industrial relations, understood broadly as the changing relationships between workers, trade unions, employers and the state. The first half of the paper examines the major interpretative traditions in British labour history, from the Webbs and the 'Oxford School' to the postwar social historians and the 'rank-and-filists'. It shows that despite their many differences, both institutionalists and social historians explain the development of labour institutions by reference to the objective interests of social groups, and goes on to raise some theoretical objections to this form of explanation. The second half of the paper draws on the findings of recent research on the history of work and industrial relations in late nineteenth and twentieth century Britain to argue that relationships between workers and employers were shaped less by informal groups or spontaneous social and economical processes than by institutional forces: by organizations such as trade unions, shop stewards' committees, business enterprises, employers' associations and the state; and by the rules and procedures governing their interaction such as collective agreements, conciliation and arbitration boards, wages councils and legislati.

From Labour History to the History of Industrial Relations

This article advances a new conception of labour history as the history of industrial relations, understood broadly as the changing relationships between workers, trade unions, employers and the state. The first half of the paper examines the major interpretative traditions in British labour history, from the Webbs and the 'Oxford School' to the postwar social historians and the 'rank-and-filists'. It shows that despite their many differences, both institutionalists and social historians explain the development of labour institutions by reference to the objective interests of social groups, and goes on to raise some theoretical objections to this form of explanation. The second half of the paper draws on the findings of recent research on the history of work and industrial relations in late nineteenth and twentieth century Britain to argue that relationships between workers and employers were shaped less by informal groups or spontaneous social and economical processes than by institutional forces: by organizations such as trade unions, shop stewards' committees, business enterprises, employers' associations and the state; and by the rules and procedures governing their interaction such as collective agreements, conciliation and arbitration boards, wages councils and legislati.

Industrial Legislation and the Rise of Employer Associations, 1890-1906

The strikes of the 1890s have often been depicted as a watershed in Australian industrial relations history because of their long-term impact on theformation of the Labor Party and the introduction of compulsory arbitration legislation. Whether these strikes were the cause, rather than a catalyst, of such developments, they did result in legislation giving unions a greater degree of legal encouragement and protection than had previously existed. This paper argues that the continuous existence afforded unions by this legislation made it desirable for employers to organize into permanent associations. This form of organization contrasted with the previously transient associations designed to deal with unions on an ad hoc basis. These employer associations (which should not be confused with trade associations) spearheaded employers' opposition at the industrial, parliamentary and judicial levels against the new industrial legislation, especially that seeking to introduce compulsory arbitration. The paper argues that, until 1906, although employers had been unsuccessful in keeping compulsory arbitration legislation off the statute books in two states and at the Commonwealth level, they had been successful in restricting the scope and operations of those arbitration systems.

Employers' Organisation and Strikebreaking in Britian, 1880–1914

The historical development of employers' associations and the role these organisations played in strikebreaking has been considerably neglected in industrial-relations history. With a few notable recent exceptions, research has tended to concentrate on the development and struggles of the organisations of men, rather than the masters. This is partly the result of the secrecy and anonymity of employers' associations and their reluctance to allow access to their records or to attract media interest, and partly because the defensive and conservative attitudes and policies of employers' organisations have proved less attractive to historians than the more militant political and social theories that lie at the foundation of trade-union policy. In particular, the strikebreaking activities of employers and their organisations were not widely publicised. As a result, this whole emotive area is shrouded in exaggeration, sensationalism, distortion and the propagation of myths by both workers and employers. The object of this paper is to analyse the parameters of employers' coercive strikebreaking tactics from the 1880's to 1914 and to shed some light on the role employers' associations played during industrial stoppages. The first section briefly outlines the main developments in employers' organisation, solidarity and labour-relations policy before 1914. Following this is a discussion of the various strikebreaking tactics utilised by employers in this period, broken down into sections on labour replacement, victimisation and legal action, strike compensation and internal solidarity, and, finally, the lock-out.

From Donovan to Where? Interpretations of Industrial Relations in Britain Since 1968

It was inevitable that the publication of the Donovan Report in I968 should become a milestone in the history of industrial relations in Britain. 1 Reconsidered ten years later, however, the Report seems inadequate as a signpost to subsequent developments. The three years' deliberations and the mountains of evidence provided an authoritative, though even at the time not universally accepted, view of the industrial relations situation in the I960S, but the economic, social and political changes of the I970S have made much of the discussion seem strangely out of date and almost irrelevant to current concerns and problems. Taking the Report as its point of reference it is the aim of this paper to discuss the analysis it offered in the light of subsequent events; and to consider whether alternative interpretations provide the basis for more satisfactory accounts of current trends in industrial relations in Britain. Although, as the fate of the Donovan Commission itself illustrates, there are great dangers in considering a short time period, I shall take the risk of concentrating on developments since I968.

Changing Union-Management Relation at the Plant Level in Australian Metalworking

The period 1969-1976 has been a dramatic one in Australian industrial relations history. This paper focuses on the changing character of plant union- management relations in metalworking over these years with a view to explaining the more significant developments. Data collected from a study made in 1969 is compared to information gathered in 1976. This indicates that plant union-management relations now are receiving much more serious attention from managers, unions and government. Many of the deficiencies evident in 1969, however, have not been remedied and new problems have emerged.

The American Federation of Musicians and the Recording Ban

IN addition to constituting a chapter in the history of industrial relations, the recording ban recently imposed by the American Federation of Musicians has several aspects of interest to students of public opinion. Although the union is struggling with a genuine problem of maintaining employment possibilities, it has been deficient both in undertaking the research which would be necessary to attack the question intelligently, and in informing the public of the reasons for its policies. For the most part, industry and government have also failed to appraise the situation realistically. Since the dispute involves the future of important media of communications as well as a large segment of our cultural life, an agreement in the public interest among labor, industry, and government is essential. The author is associated with the Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University.

Solving Labour Problems in Australia, Being an Additional Series of Essays in the History of Industrial Relations in Australia.

Solving Labour Problems in Australia, Being an Additional Series of Essays in the History of Industrial Relations in Australia.

The Early History of Industrial Conciliation in England

?i. The nature and the scale of industrial disputes in England to-day are largely determined by the negotiating machinery which has been set up in nearly all those industries where Trade Unionism plays a significant part. That machinery has been created bv the industries themselves, originally with the purpose of preventing disputes. It has not done so; but it has modified their nature profoundly. In the nineteenth century, the problem of Industrial Relations was a problem of local strikes, often of great severity. To-day, the problem has shifted; it is the large-scale stoppage, involving the whole, or a large part, of an industry, with which we are concerned. Local strikes still occur; but they are usually unofficial unsupported by the unions, and consequently of brief duration. It is the national strike that matters. This change might well be regarded as one of the most important events in the recent economic history of England; but it has been little noticed. Its history has never been written, nor have its consequences been well marked. (One consequence is to put out of date a great deal of the economic theory of Trade Unionism.) It is as a small contribution to its history that this essay has been written. The negotiating machinery in every industry is unique; and the history of industrial relations in every industry has its distinguishing features. But with a little trouble a general tendency can be discerned. Three stages can be recognised, not found in every industry, but forming a pattern which does indicate the general line of development. The first stage is one of local negotiation, showing, as the nineteenth century wears on, al increasing tendency to become formalised. Then, at the close of the century, the formation of employers' associations on a national scale leads to the establishment of rudimentary forms of general negotiations used mainly as a court of