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Trade unionism in Australia : a history from flood to ebb tide / Tom Bramble.
Lippincott Library HD6892 .B73 2008
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Bramble, Thomas.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Labor unions--Australia--History--20th century.
- Labor unions.
- History.
- Australia.
- Physical Description:
- xv, 293 pages ; 23 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, [2008]
- Summary:
- In the late 1960s Australian unionism was on the flood tide: growing in strength, industrially confident and capable of shaping the overall political climate of the nation. Forty years on, union membership and power is ebbing away despite community support for trade unionism and the continuing need for strong unions. Even the unprecedented mobilisation against WorkChoices, which defeated a government and lost the prime minister his own seat, has done little to turn the tide.
- With compelling rigour, Tom Bramble explores the changing fortunes of what was once an entrenched institution. Trade Unionism in Australia charts the impact on unions of waves of economic restructuring, a succession of hostile governments and a wholesale shift in employer attitudes, as well as the failure of the unions' own efforts to boost membership and consolidate power. Indeed, Bramble demonstrates how the tactics employed by unions since the early 1980s may have paradoxically contributed to their decline.
- Ultimately this timely book traces union-led action from the workplace to the political sphere over a period of significant change, and concludes by pointing to strategies for a renewal and revival of Australian unions.
- Contents:
- Two vignettes 1
- 1 Trade unionism in the postwar boom, 1945-67 6
- The postwar upsurge 6
- The 1950s retreat 12
- The working-class revival of the 1960s 22
- On the verge of a breakthrough 38
- Part 1 The flood tide, 1968-74 39
- 2 The union upsurge, 1968-74 41
- The breakthrough, 1968-69 41
- The flood tide gathers force, 1969-74 45
- Gains from the flood tide 62
- The Labor ascendancy, 1972-74 67
- Part 2 The stand-off, 1974-83 73
- 3 Economic crisis and the halting of the flood tide, 1974-75 75
- The onset of economic crisis 75
- Business goes on the attack 76
- Union responses to the crisis 81
- Unions and the Kerr Coup 88
- 4 Unionism in the Fraser years 95
- A period of retreat, 1976-78 96
- Union recovery, 1978-81 109
- The end of the Fraser Government and the emergence of the Accord 114
- Part 3 The ebb tide, 1983-2007 123
- 5 The ALP-ACTU Accord, 1983-90 125
- The early years of the Accord, 1983-86 126
- The rise of productivity trade-offs, 1987-90 145
- The position of trade unions by 1990 154
- The 1990 federal election 157
- 6 Enterprise bargaining and a revived employer offensive, 1990-96 159
- A new phase in the productivity revolution 160
- Working-class resistance 170
- The two faces of unionism 174
- The 1996 election and the end of the Accord 178
- 7 Unionism in a cold climate, 1996-2004 181
- Workers and their unions in 1996 181
- Two early clashes 184
- The anti-union offensive continues 198
- Union efforts to reverse decline 201
- 8 WorkChoices and the defeat of the Howard Government 210
- WorkChoices 210
- The 'Your Rights at Work' campaign 218
- The 2007 federal election 233
- 9 Results and prospects 239
- Australian unionism from flood to ebb tide: a summary of the argument 239
- The challenge facing the unions 244
- Prospects for revival 246.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780521888035
- 0521888034
- 9780521716123
- 0521716128
- OCLC:
- 260207131
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