Suchergebnisse

Abstract: In May and June 1981 Automatic Telling Machines (ATMs) were introduced into sixty‐one branches of the Commonwealth Banking Corporation in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT. In contrast to union bans which had been imposed on ATMs in the private banking sector, the Commonwealth Bank Officers' Association (CBOA) actively supported the use of this new technology. After outlining the industry industrial relations system this paper examines the three‐way process of negotiations, involving the union, management and the federal government, which led to the introduction of ATMs. The terms of the agreement reached — a 19 day working month, early voluntary retirement after age 55 and a joint consultative committee on technological change in return for supports for ATMs — are analysed and the factors which contributed to the absence of industrial conflict during the negotiations are discussed.

National Competition Policy (NCP) has been a highly contentious public policy issue in Australia since its introduction in 1995. This paper examines the development and implementation of NCP, and its relationship to other modalities of state restructuring such as privatisation. We also analyse selected aspects of NCP in operation, including issues of market failures such as the 1998 gas, electricity and water supply crises; the role of competition regulators in the labour market; and issues of public interest. We track changes in the way NCP has been enforced by the regulatory authority, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which is taking an increasingly interventionist approach to labour market issues, but a more laissez-faire approach to other markets. These developments are analysed in the context of a globalised economic system dominated by large business corporations that often do not operate in classic, competitive markets. The forces of globalisation and the development of a strong community backlash against NCP In rural and regional Australia are placing increasing pressure on Australian competition policy as it is currently configured.

Most studies of unionized, immigrant workers have argued mat such workers have lower levels of participation in and hold different attitudes toward their unions than do nonimmigrant union members. Drawing on a questionnaire survey of members of six Australian trade unions, this article questions this consensus. We argue mat country of origin – in particular whether the union member was born in a non-English-speaking or an English-speaking country – does not, of itself, lead to different levels of union participation or different union attitudes. A closely related variable, the level of English language ability, does influence some elements of particpation and attitudes.