A Memorable Year

Abstract

This article reviews the major Australian industrial relations developments that occurred in 1993. Federal industrial relations developments were domi nated by the passing of the Industrial Relations Reform Act, a pro-union piece of legislation which emphasizes bargaining, while at the same time retaining and codifying the award system. Important changes include: an institution alized right to strike, dilution of secondary boycott provisions and the estab lishment of a new Industrial Relations Court. Simultaneously, changes to state industrial relations laws were enacted and/or took effect in 1993. The Tas manian and Western Australian opting-out versions of reform are such that their industrial relations jurisdictions are likely to remain intact. Parallel experiments (federal and state) now co-exist, both of which place primacy on bargaining. The federal system all but guarantees a role for unions in the bargaining process, whereas these states' systems allow for union involvement, but do not guarantee it. It will be fascinating to make comparative assessments of the outcomes of the two models in the future.