Trade Unions and the Law: The Broken Hill Dispute

Abstract

The Broken Hill mines dispute erupted in February 1986. It resulted in a two-month lockout of employees and the permanent loss of 860 jobs—almost a third of the local mining industry's workforce. A study of the Broken Hill dispute will be useful to unions, management and students. The experiences of the Broken Hill unions are indicative of problems facing all Australian unions in this period of economic uncertainty. The union and company industrial and legal tactics in the dispute are analysed in this paper. The use of the law by management to thwart the industrial objectives of the unions is an important theme. It is apparent that in future the Australian union movement will need to be aware of the implications at law of their industrial strategies and that they should seek legal advice at an early stage in a dispute. They should also ensure their contract of employment offers adequate protection at law.