Informed by an emerging discourse in environmental labour studies, this article investigates the legality of environmental bargaining in Australia. It demonstrates that existing enterprise bargaining law mostly prevents meaningful and enforceable bargaining regarding environmental issues. Proposed here instead is that more impactful possibilities for environmental bargaining exist under state Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws. In this respect, the article engages with some of the latest legal developments within the field of WHS that may enable environmental bargaining on the terms recommended by the environmental labour studies literature. It nevertheless acknowledges that such proposals may generate additional regulatory and resource burdens on regulators and workers alike. Accordingly, it concludes by canvasing a range of alternative regulatory arrangements rendering environmental bargaining more fair and effective.
AntonioliDMazzantiM (2017) Towards a green economy through innovations: The role of trade union involvement. Ecological Economics131: 286–299.
2.
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) (2005) A report on the 2004 national survey of health and safety representatives. Melbourne.
3.
Australian Government (2009) National review into model occupational health and safety laws: second report to the workplace relations ministers’ council. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
4.
Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (AWIRS) (1995) Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
5.
CarsonWGHenenbergC (1988) The political economy of legislative change: Making sense of Victoria’s new occupational health and safety legislation. Law in Context16(3): 124–140.
6.
FarnhillT (2017) Union renewal and workplace greening – three case studies. British Journal of Industrial Relations56(4): 716–743.
7.
FlanaganF (2022) Horizons of national responsibility: law and the protection of life on a fossil-rich continent, Tenth Academy Hancock Lecture, 31 May.
8.
FlandersA (1970) Management and Unions: The Theory and Reform of Industrial Relations. London: Faber.
9.
GoodsC (2013) A just transition to a green economy: Evaluating the response of Australian unions. Australian Bulletin of Labour39(2): 13–33.
10.
GoodsC (2017) Research note: Climate change and employment relations. Journal of Industrial Relations59(5): 670–679.
11.
GunninghamN (1985) Workplace safety and the law. In: CreightonBGunninghamN (eds) The Industrial Relations of Occupational Health and Safety. Sydney: Croom Helm, pp.60–80.
12.
HamptonP (2015) Workers and Trade Unions for Climate Solidarity. London: Routledge.
13.
HamptonP (2018) Trade unions and climate politics: Prisoners of neoliberalism or swords of climate justice?Globalizations15(4): 470–486.
14.
HarperI, McCluskey S, O'Brien M and Anderson P (2015) Competition Policy Review – Final Report. Canberra: Australian Government Treasury.
15.
HuberMT (2022) Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet. New York: Verso.
16.
HymanR (2001) Understanding European Trade Unionism: Between Market, Class and Society. London: Sage.
17.
JohnstoneR (2009) Institutional arrangements on health and safety representation in Australia. In: WaltersDNicholsT (eds) Workplace Health and Safety – International Perspectives on Worker Representation. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 31–49.
18.
JohnstoneRBluffEClaytonA (2012) Work Health and Safety Law and Policy, 3rd Ed.Pyrmont: LawBook Co.
19.
JohnstoneRQuinlanMWaltersD (2005) Statutory OHS workplace arrangements for the modern labour market. Journal of Industrial Relations47(1): 93–116.
20.
JohnstoneRToomaM (2022) Work Health and Safety Regulation in Australia. Alexandria: Federation Press.
LambropoulosV (2009) Greening Australian workplaces: Workers and the environment. Alternative Law Journal34: 189–192.
23.
Lipsig-MummeCMcBrideS(eds) (2015) Work in a warming world (Queen’s Policy Studies Series). Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University.
24.
MarkeyRMcIvorJ (2019) Environmental Bargaining in Australia. Journal of Industrial Relations61(1): 79–104.
25.
MarkeyRMcIvorJWrightCF (2014) Climate change and the Australian workplace. Final Report for the Australian Department of Industry on State of Knowledge on Climate Change, Work and Employment. Sydney: Macquarie University.
26.
McCallumRMooreREdwardsJ (2012) Towards More Productive and Equitable Workplaces: An Evaluation of the Fair Work Legislation. Canberra: Australian Government.
27.
McConvillJJoyM (2003) The interaction of directors’ duties and sustainable development in Australia. Melbourne University Law Review27(1): 116–138.
28.
MilgateNInnesEO'LoughlinK (2002) Examining the effectiveness of health and safety committees and representatives. Work19(3): 281–290.
29.
Moorehead A, Steele M, Alexander M, Stephen K, Duffin L (1997) Changes at Work: AWIRS 1995, Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
30.
Parliament of Australia (2009). Fair Work Act 2009. Explanatory Memorandum, Canberra, Australia.
31.
PragnellB (1994) Occupational & Health Committees in NSW: An Analysis of the AWIRS Data. Sydney: ACIRRT.
QuinlanMBohlePLammF (2010) Managing Occupational Health and Safety: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Melbourne: Macmillan.
34.
RathzellNUzzellD(eds) (2013) Trade Unions in the Green Economy: Working for the Environment. London: Routledge.
35.
RishiP (2022) Managing Climate Change and Sustainability Through Behavioural Transformation. Singapore: Springer.
36.
Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption (2015) Final report – Volume 5, Australian Government.
37.
Schofield-GeorgesonE (forthcoming, 2023) Contract, Labour Law and Reality in the High Court. Monash University Law Review.
38.
Schofield-GeorgesonERileyJ (forthcoming, 2023) Precarious work in the high court. Sydney Law Review.
39.
StevisDFelliR (2015) Global labor unions and just transition to a green economy. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics15(1): 29–43.
40.
StevisDUzzellDRasthzelN (2018) The labour-nature relationship: Varieties of labour environmentalism. Globalizations15(4): 439–453.
41.
StewartA (2008) Submission to the Senate education, employment and workplace relations committee inquiry to the fair work bill. Submission 98.
42.
Stewart A, Forsyth A, Irving M, Johnstone R, McCrystal S (2016) Creighton & Stewart’s Labour Law, 6th EditionAnnandale: Federation Press.
43.
ToomaM (2019) Safety, Security, Health and Environment Law, 3rd EditionAnnandale: Federation Press.
WaltersD (1985) The politics of occupational health and safety: Interviews with Workers’ health and safety representatives and company doctors. Canadian Review of Social Anthropology22: 57–79.
46.
WaltersDFrickK (2000) Worker participation and the management of occupational health and safety: Reinforcing or conflicting strategies. In: FrickK, et al. (ed) Systematic Occupational Health and Safety Management. Amsterdam: Pergamon, pp.43–66.
47.
Warren-Langford P, Biggins D and Phillips M (1993) Union participation in occupational health and safety in Western Australia. Journal of Industrial Relations35: 585–606.
48.
WrightCNybergD (2015) Climate Change, Capitalism and Corporations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
49.
WrightCNybergD (2017) An inconvenient truth: How organizations translate climate change into business as usual. Academy of Management Journal60(5): 1633–1661.
50.
YassiALockhartKSykesM, et al. (2013) Effectiveness of joint health and safety committees: A realist review. American Journal of Industrial Medicine56: 424–438.
