Employer Associations in New South Wales

Abstract

Though employer associations perform important functions in the highly institu tionalised systems of industrial relations in Australia, very little is known about them. Our ignorance of these associations may be expected to reduce our knowledge and understanding of industrial relations. This paper presents some of the results of a 1980 survey of metropolitan employer associations in New South Wales. The survey attempted to identify several salient features of these associations including their number and range of occupational/industrial coverage, their organisational structures and inter-organisational links, their policy and decision-making apparatus, their membership rates, their perceptions of their functions and significance relating to dispute settlement procedures. The first part of the paper is concerned with formulating a functional definition of employer associations. Following the survey findings the concluding section highlights further areas of potentially fruitful research.