This article considers some of the policy issues at stake in the waterfront dispute, including an analysis of the factors that led to the dispute and a discussion of the likely outcomes of the new negotiated agreements. It concludes that the introduction of another competitor into the Australian stevedoring industry is relatively unlikely. Without such competition and in the face of 100 percent unionisation, it is not clear whether the short-run gains in productivity from the latest round of enterprise agreements will necessarily be sustained.
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References
1.
Productivity Commission (PC) (1998a), International Benchmarking of the Australian Waterfront, Research Report, Ausinfo, Canberra, April.
2.
Productivity Commission (PC) (1998b), Work Arrangements in Container Stevedoring. Research Report, Ausinfo, Canberra.
3.
SloanJ.RobertsonF. (1997), Selected Analysis of Employment Conditions of Workers in the Australian Waterfront and Seafaring. Working Paper 145, National Institute of Labour Studies, Flinders University of South Australia.
