Major Tribunal Decisions in 2002

Abstract

The authors review some of the important decisions of the last year, including those relating to redundancy liabilities, transmission of business, union bargaining fees and the parameters of unprotected industrial action. In their review, the authors note the increasing propensity of industrial actors to opt for legally enforced resolutions ahead of industrially negotiated outcomes. The authors also comment that a failure to have regard to such an increasingly legal approach in industrial relations may hold the potential to unravel corporate and commercial transactions. In concluding, the authors express the view that while some of the pressing legal decisions of 2002 remain unresolved, one certainty is that the role of third party tribunals in abating the increasing trend of legalism will continue to be debated.