Should Australian lockout law be reformed? Lockouts in Australia are legally the formal equal of strikes and the legal treatment of lockouts is the most `de-regulated' in the OECD. The notion that strikes and lockouts should be treated equally is intuitively appealing. However, other OECD nations have rejected an equal right to strike and lockout, reserving lockouts for exceptional circumstances where employers suffer from an imbalance of bargaining power so as to reconcile lockouts with other legal principles such as freedom of association and the right to strike. Australian employers, it will be argued, have been given too much freedom by policy makers at federal level to use lockouts that should legally be reserved as a weapon of genuine `last resort'. However, instead of repositioning Australian lockout law back towards the international mainstream, WorkChoices will produce a legal framework that, uniquely, positively discriminates in favour of employer lockouts against strikes.
Abc (2005) `Legal Experts say Right to Strike will be Drastically Limited', accessed 11 January 2006http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1514512.htm .
2.
Age, The (1999) `Uneasy Truce in Meatworks Row' , (27 November).
3.
Airc (1999) `The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union and G & K O' Connor', Justice Boulton, Print S0987, 17 November.
4.
Airc (2000) `Joy Manufacturing Co Pty Ltd. S.170MH Termination of Certified Agreement', Print T1133, 25 September.
5.
Airc (2003a) `Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union and The Employer, SDP O'Callaghan', PR931516, 15 May.
6.
Airc (2003b) `s.170VM(3) termination of an AWA by the Commission. Various Applications', SDP O'Callaghan, PR930865, 30 April.
7.
Anderson, G. (2004) `Part 8: Strikes and Lockouts', Mazengards Employment Law. New Zealand: Lexis-Nexis.
8.
Andrews, K. (2005) `Workplace Relations Amendment (Better Bargaining) Bill 2005', Second Reading Speech, accessed 13 July 2005http://parlinfowe.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=2432977
9.
Australian Bureau of Statistics(2002) Employee Earnings and Hours, Cat. no. 6306.0. Canberra : ABS.
10.
Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (acirrt) (1994—2004) `ADAM Report', No. 1—43.
11.
Ben-Israel, R. (1994) `Strikes, Lockouts and Other Hostile Actions', in B. Hepple (ed.) International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, p. 15. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.
12.
Blanpain, R. (ed.) (1994) Strikes and Lockouts in Industrialised Nations. Kluwer: Amsterdam.
13.
Briggs, C. (2004) `The Return of the Lockout in Australia: a Profile of Lockouts Since the Decentralisation of Bargaining', Australian Bulletin of Labour30(2): 101—12.
14.
Briggs, C. (2005) `Lockout Law in Comparative Perspective: Corporatism, Pluralism and Neo-Liberalism', International Journal of Comparative Labour Law andIndustrial Relations3(21): 481—502.
15.
Briggs, C. (2006) `The Return of Lockouts Down Under in Comparative Perspective: Globalisation, the State and Employer Militancy', Comparative Political Studies20(10): 1—25.
16.
Coulthard, A. (2001) `AWAs — Fairness, Individualism and Collective Rights', acirrt Conference: the AWA Experience — Evaluating the Evidence, Sydney.
17.
Creighton, B. and Stewart, A. (1990) Labour Law: An Introduction. Sydney: Federation Press.
18.
Edwards, J. (2004) `Labor and Industrial Relations: Threatening its Own Reforms', Australia and New Zealand Weekly, HSBC, accessed 20 September 2004http://www.hsbc.com.au/information/research/archive.html#anz
19.
Evans, R. (2005) `Presidents Report', H.R.Nicholls Society 2005Annual General Meeting , accessed 4 January 2006http://www.hrnicholls.com.au/Special/PresReport2005.pdf
20.
Federal Court of Australia(2000a) ACI Operations Pty Ltd v Automotive Food Metals Engineering Printing and Kindred Industries Union, 173 A.L.R. 109, 30 March, Merkel J.
21.
Federal Court of Australia (2000b) Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union v G & K O'Connor Pty Ltd [2000] FCA 1795, 12 December.
22.
Federal Court of Australia (2001) Australian Workers' Union v BHP Iron-Ore Pty Ltd [2001] FCA 3,10 January.
23.
Hughes, J. (1998) `Lockout Fuels Fear of Work Militancy', The Australian (30 December).
24.
International Labour Organization (2001) `CEACR: Individual Observation concerning Convention No. 87, Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, 1948, Australia', accessed 10 January 2006http://www.ilo.org.ilolex
25.
International Labour Organization (2005) `CEACR: Individual Observation concerning Convention No. 98, Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, 1949 Australia', accessed 10 January 2006http://www.ilo.org.ilolex
26.
Jacobs, A. (2001) `The Law of Strikes and Lockouts', in R. Blanpain and C. Engels (eds) Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Industrialized Market Economies, pp. 585—628. The Hague : Kluwer Law International.
27.
Lange, T. (1987) The Role of Lockouts in Labor Conflicts: A Legal Study of American and German Approaches. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
28.
Noakes, D. and Cardell-Ree, A. (2001) `Recent Cases: Individual Contracts and Freedom to Associate', Australian Journal of Labour Law14(3): 89—96.
29.
Nolan, P. (2003) Workplace Relations Director, Australian Industry Group, Personal Interview, 16 October.
30.
Oliver, D. (2003) AMWU, Personal Interview, 17 October.
31.
O'Neil, M. (2003) Personal Interview, Victorian Secretary, Textile , Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia, 17 October.
32.
Patmore, G. (1991) Australian Labour History. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.
33.
Quinn, D. (2004) `To Be or Not to Be a Member: Is that the only Question? Freedom of Association Under the Workplace Relations Act?', Australian Journal ofLabour17(1): 1—34.
34.
Reith, P. (1996) `Australia at the Turning Point', Workplace Relations and Other Legislation Amendment Bill: Second Reading, 23 May.
35.
Slevin, T. (2005) `Industrial Action in the Newest Province: Neither Rude nor Barborous', mimeo, 28 November.
36.
Weiss, M. (1994) `Germany', in R. Blanpain (ed.) Strikes and Lockouts in Industrialized Nations, pp. 67—82. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.
