Peak Unions in Australia

Erscheinungsjahr 2004
ISBN: 978-1-86287-530-2
Verlag: Federation Press

Buch, Englisch, 288 Seiten, Gewicht: 444 g

This innovative and comprehensive book is the first detailed study of the making and development of Australian peak unions. For over 150 years, peak unions have beencentral part of the Australian industrial relations landscape. They remain by far the most significant institutional form of inter-union cooperation in the country at the national, state, local and industry scales. They are remarkably varied bodies which have played vital roles in union growth and labour renewal. Some are strong, some weak and a select few have even come close to being unaccountable, a state within a state. This multi-author book systematically examines their nature and influence at different times, in different places. It adopts a unique combination of comparative method and conceptual insights from the fields of industrial relations, history, geography, organisational studies and political science. Its 13 chapters explore the whole range of peak unions and labour councils, from local bodies in Rockhampton, the Illawarra, Wagga Wagga and Broken Hill, through State councils in Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales, to the national peak union body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions. The book allies this empirical diversity with an essential theoretical cohesion. It opens with two conceptual chapters which develop a model for explaining the formation and changing purpose and power of peak unions, a model which resonates through all the subsequent chapters.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ellem, Brad

Ellem, Brandon

Markey, Ray

Shields, John

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Gewerkschaften, Industrielle Beziehungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents Introduction Bradon Ellem, Raymond Markey and John Shields Different Roads to Power: A Comparative Study of National Union Federations Chris Briggs Beyond the 'Will to Unity': Theorising Peak Union Organisation and Agency Bradon Ellem and John Shields The Labour Council of NSW: 1871-2001 Ray Markey Product of a Community in Transition: The First Brisbane Trades Labour Council: 1885-1888 John Kellett The Industrial and Political Role of the Trades and Labour Council of Queensland since 1922: A Reassessment Simon Fry, John Shields and Bradon Ellem The Formation and Role of an Independent Trades and Labour Council in Western Australia Bobbie Oliver The Barrier Industrial Council: A Study in Local Peak Union Origins, Purpose, Power and Decline Bradon Ellem and John Shields Peak Unionism in the Illawarra Ray Markey and Shirley Nixon A Podium for Politics: The Origins and Role of the Rockhampton Trades and Labour Council and Its Predecessors Barbara Webster A Fourth Level Council: The Wagga Wagga District Trades and Labour Council: 1943-1990 Warwick Eather Power and Space in the Victorian Trades Hall Council Cathy Bridgen The End of a Cycle? The Australian Council of Trade Unions in Historical Perspective Chris Briggs