Jurisdictional Contests over the Regulation of Work: Evidence from the NSW Oil Refining Sectors, 1976—80

Abstract

This article illustrates how a contest within the Australian Workers Union over the issues of workplace autonomy and bargaining structure came to develop a particularly intractable and entrenched character as a consequence of the coexistence of state and federal industrial regulation. It argues that as the dispute played out informal coalitions developed between different fractions of organized labour, capital and the state, which hardened the positions of all parties involved in the dispute. Both federal and state tribunals acted in a manner they saw as consistent with their role of maintaining public interests, but their behaviour in fulfilling this role saw them come into direct conflict.