Abstract
We are extremely pleased to acknowledge the 65th year of the Journal of Industrial Relations (JIR) in this editorial introduction to Volume 66 (1). We take this opportunity to thank our deputy and associate editors, our editorial board members, past and present authors, reviewers, and readers, all of who contribute to ensuring that the journal can continue to fulfil its mission and vision as a leading forum for research and discussions on a wide range of industrial relations related issues, including employment and employer practices, work organisation, pay and conditions, labour law and state policies, representation and rights at work, and trade unionism, as well as broader social and economic issues such as job quality, the future of work and digitalisation, workplace health and safety, modern slavery, diversity including gender and sexuality, indigeneity, cultural diversity and ethnicity, age and disability.
The journal's various stakeholders, together with the journal's owner, the Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association (ALERA), make it possible for us to publish high-quality research papers that advance academic scholarship, policy debates and professional practice in industrial relations in the twenty-first century by (a) supporting multi-disciplinary knowledge of past, present, and future issues relating to employment, work, work organisation and labour regulation and labour law and (b) promoting improved theoretical understanding of contemporary issues affecting capital and labour and the changing nature of industrial relations in Australia and internationally.
In this current issue we are pleased by the international spread of our authors from different continents and countries, including Luuk Voncken and Simon Otjes from the Netherlands, Jacques Wels, Natasia Hamarat, and Vanessa De Greef from Belgium, Francisca Gutierrez Crocco and Claudia Jordana from Chile, Michael Garry and Garry Quinlan from Australia and Canada, Jane Parker, Pat Loga, Selu Paea, Amanda Young-Hauser from New Zealand/ Aotearoa and E.K. Sarter from the United Kingdom. The focus of their papers adds international breadth to our journal and arguably enhances understanding of similarities and differences, strengths, and weaknesses across various industrial relations contexts.
This year we farewell one of our Deputy Editors, Professor Santina Bertone. We thank her for her contributions to the editorial team over the past two years, including her chairing of the JIR Complaints and Appeals committee. In this chaircapacity, Professor Santina Bertone developed the Complaints and Appeals processes and guidelines together with Professor Louise Thornthwaite. Like Louise, Santina will remain involved with the journal as a member of the Editorial Board. The JIR Complaints and Appeals committee will henceforth be chaired by Associate Professor Donella Caspersz, Deputy Editor (Special Issues). We also take this opportunity to welcome Professor Mark Wooden as an Associate Editor and Jason Antony as our Editorial Assistant.
We continue to pursue our strategy of expanding the journal's profile and reputation for quality research, both locally in Australia and globally, not only among academics but also practitioners, particularly among members of the ALERA and its constituent state industrial relations societies. As noted in last year's final editorial we are committed to engaging with practitioners through our new JIR Practitioner Advisory Committee and we are pleased to announce that the first meeting will be held in February 2024 with members: Nate Burke, Assistant Director, Bargaining and Industry Policy Branch, Safety and Industry Policy Division, Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (Past President IRSQ); Linda Colley (QLD Government Special Commissioner Equity and Diversity, Public Service Commission, QLD); Julie Gordon, Legal Officer AMWU (IRS NSW Committee Member); Darcy Gunning, Campaigns Organiser, AMWU WA; Brenton Higgins, Lead Organiser, CPSU for ACT Government; Chris Meallin, Senior HR & Workplace Relations Specialist (IRS Victoria Committee); Ciaran Strachan, Managing Director & CEO Australian Workforce Compliance Council, South Australia; and, Vicki Telfer (Northern Territory Commissioner for Public Employment, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia -Sep 2019-August 2023, President NT IPAA (Institute of Public Administration Australia).
The Terms of Reference for Practitioner Advisory Committee Members include an agreement to provide input and guidance to the JIR Editorial team relating to issues of relevance for industrial relations developments and practices, and legal/regulatory issues of relevance for the field and the journal. In addition to attending meetings with the Editorial team, the Committee members will also be invited to undertake one book review per year and recommend practitioners for book reviewing for JIR, provide suggestions for the Annual Review of Critical Developments in IR in Australia and elsewhere, contribute suggestions of topics for Special Issues and from time to time: (a) participate in proposed ‘Practitioner Contributions from the frontlines’ initiative for the journal and its social media and/or recommend practitioners for this initiative; (b) either contribute short written pieces or recommend practitioners to contribute to ‘Significant Controversies and Debates in Industrial Relations’ alongside contributions from academics; and (c) fulfil an ambassadorial role for JIR by promoting the journal at practitioner conferences, symposia and related events. We very much look forward to receiving input and insights from the committee members and also book reviews. These, together with book reviews from our Early Career Researcher Editorial Trainees in 2024, will provide a valuable addition to the corpus of knowledge on developments in industrial relations in Australia and around the world.
We are extremely excited by our pipeline of forthcoming Special Issues which includes the following:
2024: (a) Workplace Psychosocial Hazards: Employment Relations Frameworks and Implications for Workers’ Health and Safety; (b) Authoritarian Innovations in Labour Governance; and
2025: The Potential and Challenges in supporting Decent Work in Sub-Saharan Africa. Further details can be found on the JIR's LinkedIn pages.
As also foreshadowed in the last editorial of 2023, this year we will welcome the journal's inaugural Indigenous Trainee, Dr Samantha Cooms and look forward to increasing the number of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Editorial trainees later in the year.
Finally, it is with great sadness that we acknowledge the untimely passing of Frances Hayes (8 November 1953–11 December 2023). To commemorate her immense contribution to industrial relations in Australia, the Journal will be publishing an ‘In Memorium’ for Fran in the next issue with contributions from key scholars, activists and practitioners who worked with her. Here we wish to briefly recognise her wide-ranging impact by drawing on tributes from those who spoke at her funeral on 22 December 2023, including Meredith Burgmann, AO, former President of the New South Wales Legislative Council; Philippa Hall, executive member of the Women's Electoral Lobby and previously public servant with State and Federal Governments, and in New Zealand; and Sally McManus, Secretary of the ACTU and former official of the Australian Services Union. These speakers recognised Fran's ‘brilliant’ contribution as the first woman employed as a trainer at the Trade Union Training Authority, the Clyde Cameron College at Albury Wodonga. However, the most agreed-upon recognition centred on Fran's work as the first organiser of the Australian Social Welfare Union in the 1970s, as National Award campaign organiser in 1977, Federal President in 1978 and Vice President in 1980. As Sally McManus put it in her eulogy on 22 December 2023: Fran played a pivotal role leading ‘the case on behalf of youth workers for an Award and for their work to be recognised and to receive the basic rights and protections of other workers’, the result of which was referred to in an Australian Financial Review article as an ‘Industrial Relations Revoution’ (Solomon,1983: 1). Equally significant was Fran's major commitment to and impact on the struggle for pay equity. A foundation member of the National Pay Equity Coalition (NPEC), she collaborated with Suzanne Hammond and Meg Smith in the 1998 Gender Pay Equity Inquiry, which resulted in the groundbreaking NSW Equal Remuneration Principle 2000. To do justice to Fran's legacy, our In Memorium will include contributions from those who worked with Fran in these and several other activities and campaigns. We draw readers attention to the Obituary written by Philippa Hall, appropriately titled: ‘Social justice warrior and union legend who was forever feminist’, published 7/1/2024 in the Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/national/social-justice-warrior-and-union-legend-who-was-forever-feminist-20240102-p5euod.html.
We look forward to celebrating the journal's 65th year for which we will prepare various tributes during 2024.