Rediscovering Collective Bargaining: Australia's Fair Work Act in International Perspective

Summary

This book examines countries that have tried, with varying degrees of success, to use legislative strategies to encourage and support collective bargaining, including Australia’s Fair Work Act. It is the first major study of the operation and impact of the new collective bargaining framework introduced under the Fair Work Act, combining theoretical and practical perspectives. In addition, a number of comparative pieces provide rich insights into the Australian legislation’s adaptation of concepts from overseas collective bargaining systems – including good faith bargaining, and majority employee support as the basis for establishing bargaining rights. Contributors to this volume are all leading labor law, industrial relations, and human resource management scholars from Australia, and from Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

Table of Contents

1. Rediscovering Collective Bargaining Breen Creighton and Anthony Forsyth  2. Collective Bargaining and Agreement-Making in Australia: Evolution of the Legislative Framework and Practice Peter Gahan and Andreas Pekarek  3. International Labour Standards and Collective Bargaining under the Fair Work Act 2009 Breen Creighton  4. The Role of Fair Work Australia in Facilitating Collective Bargaining Richard Naughton  5. The Mechanics of Agreement Making under the Fair Work Act 2009: Promoting Good Faith Bargaining and Genuine Agreement Amanda Coulthard  6. The Relationship between Protected Industrial Action, Recognition and Bargaining in Good Faith under the Fair Work Act 2009 Shae McCrystal  7. Getting to the Table? Fair Work, Unions and Collective Bargaining Rae Cooper and Bradon Ellem  8. Industrial Conflict with Awards, Choices and Fairness David Peetz  9. Government as Industrial Relations Role Model: Promotion of Collective Bargaining and Workplace Cooperation by Non-Legislative Mechanisms John Howe  10. Comparing Purposes and Concepts in United States and Australian Collective Bargaining Law Anthony Forsyth  11. Recognition in Respect of Bargaining in the United Kingdom: Collective Autonomy and Political Neutrality in Context Alan Bogg and Tonia Novitz  12. The Canadian Conception of Collective Representation and Bargaining Sara Slinn  13. After EFCA, What Next for Unions? The Future of Labour Law Reform and of Collective Bargaining in the United States John Logan  14. Collective Bargaining and Food Faith Obligations in New Zealand Pam Nuttall  Notes on Contributors  Notes  Bibliography  Index

Editor(s) Bio

Breen Creighton is a Professor of Law at RMIT University in Australia. He has written extensively on employment law, equal opportunity law, international labour law, industrial law and occupational health and safety, and is joint-author of two of the leading texts on Labor Law in Australia.

Anthony Forsyth is Associate Professor & Director, Juris Doctor Programs, at RMIT University, Australia. He is also a Co-Editor of the Australian Journal of Labour Law, and the co-author of several books including Navigating the Fair Work Laws (2010). He is one of Australia’s leading researchers on statutory systems of collective bargaining, and has carried out numerous comparative studies of Australian, Canadian and United States collective bargaining law.