Strikes and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission

Abstract

The Australian Industrial Relations Commission is required to settle industrial disputes that come before it, including disputes involving industrial action. It has wide discretion in considering whether or not to take the various steps open to it under the statute constituting it, although it does invariably seek to bring industrial action to an end. It also appears concerned to ensure that the action it takes is proportionate to the industrial circumstances, and there is accordingly something of a hierarchy of remedies, with bans clauses and cancellation of award seen as serious steps often taken where other possible means of settling the dispute, including conciliation, commission directions, recommendations and orders, and general debate in the commission have been exhausted. An examination of commission decisions and orders issued indicates that the commission has been unwilling to establish definitive principles in relation to the exercise of its powers, although general commission policy directions appear to exist, ultimately deriving from the statute constituting the commission.