SUPPLMENTARY SUBMISSION:
REVIEW OF THE FAIR WORK ACT
David Peetz
Professor of Employment Relations,
Department of Employment Relations and Human Resources
Griffith Business School, Nathan Campus,
Griffith University, Brisbane QLD 4111 Australia
Visiting Professor
New Zealand Work and Labour Market Institute,
Auckland University of Technology,
Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
March 2012
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1. Unreasonable additional hours and maximum hours
In paragraphs 55 to 64 of my submission, I referred to findings from current research
being undertaken with Georgina Murray and Olav Muurlink in the ACES (the Australian
Coal and Energy Survey) project, a contemporary study of wellbeing and working
arrangements funded jointly by the Commonwealth’s Australian Research Council
(ARC) and the Mining and Energy Division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and
Energy Union (CFMEU) through the ARC’s Linkage research scheme. I noted that the
data presented there were preliminary in several respects and that normally in such
circumstances we would not publicaly disclose these findings for several weeks.
However, due to the high relevance to the Review and the tight deadline for
submissions, we presented thse preliminary findings for consideration.
I have attached to this supplementary submission a paper outlining some of the findings
to date, elaborating upon paragraphs 55 to 64.
2. Industrial Conflict
In paragraphs 6 and 42 of the submission, only passing reference was made to the topic
of industrial action. Of interest to the Review may be the attached analysis of patterns
of industrial conflict under the Fair Work Act and in earlier periods. It is based on data
up to the end of 2010. It is to be published in 2012 as a chapter in Anthony Forsyth &
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Breen Creighton (eds), Rediscovering Collective Bargaining: Australia’s Fair Work Act in
International Perspective, to be published by Routledge. As the chapter is not yet
published, I sought the opinions of the editors before forwarding it to the Review.
The paper analyses industrial conflict at the macro level under the Fair Work Act and its
predecessor in the context of long term trends. It considers patterns in the incidence of
disputes, their causes, duration and method of settlement, distinguishes between
contingent and unconditional strikes and considers the implications for how changes to
bargaining regimes have affected bargaining behaviour. In recent years disputes have
become less common, more concentrated in the times during which new collective
agreements are negotiated, and longer. The role for negotiation in ending strikes has
not increased. The easing of restrictions on union actions under the FW Act had little
evident impact on strike activity. Short, unconditional strikes were never just about
grievances and protests; they were always an important tactic in bargaining campaigns.
They have now increased in duration, and importance, because of procedural
requirements around disputation. Despite nearly two decades of enterprise bargaining,
there are still a significant number of short disputes and disputes on non-enterprise
bargaining matters, though the Fair Work Act has been accompanied by a fall in the
level and significance of unprotected action. Unprotected strikes remain shorter than
protected strikes, as unions and members need to minimise the risks associated with
them. The patterns of conflict reflect the institutional history of Australian industrial
relations and the way that parties, habituated by former systems, have adapted the
rules of successive legislative regimes.
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3. Corrigendum:
Please note that in my original submission, “Figure 7: Poverty rates in two-earner
households, 14 OECD countries, 1998” should be labelled “Figure 7: Poverty rates in
two-adult households, 14 OECD countries, 1998”
LIST OF ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: David Peetz, Georgina Murray & Olav Muurlink, ‘The impact of working
arrangements on the physical and psychological health of workers and their partners’,
for 16th World Congress of International Labor and Employment Relations Association,
Philadelphia, USA, July 2012.
Attachment 2: Peetz, D, ‘Industrial Conflict with Awards, Choices and Fairness’, in
Anthony Forsyth & Breen Creighton (eds), Rediscovering Collective Bargaining:
Australia’s Fair Work Act in International Perspective, Routledge (forthcoming 2012).
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