Employers and Bargaining Structure: the Case of the Australian Oil Industry

Abstract

In the Australian literature on industrial relations, the dominant explation for the operation of employer associations bas come from the work of David Plowman. In the course of his analysis Plowman came to postulate that, unlike the situation in other industrialised economies, employer associations did little to influence the structure of bargaining in Australia. Plowman's argument has recently been subject to criticism, most notably by Barry, and Sheldon and Thornthwaite. This paper argues, like the recent revisionists, that employers have been instrumental in affecting both the level and the scope of bargaining. Evidence drawn from the activities of companies operating in the Australian oil industry during the period 1950-1980 supports this contention.