Journal of Industrial Relations

For Australian industrial relations, no major legislation was passed and few significant judgements were handed down in 2015, but several inquiries held over the course of the year and the consequences arising from political leadership changes might ultimately be seen as ‘critical junctures’ from which important developments subsequently unfolded. In particular, the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into the Workplace Relations Framework and the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption recommended several major changes that may eventually come to fruition. This article analyses the implications of these inquiries and emerging issues in the low-wage sector, and provides an overview of the articles in the 2016 Journal of Industrial Relations Annual Review issue.

After two years of deteriorating conditions, 2015 was a year of modest improvement in the Australian labour market. Perhaps the most important change was a higher employment-to-population ratio, with increases in both persons employed and hours worked. Despite these encouraging signs of recovery, several weak spots remain. The full-time employment rate is stagnant, the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, and wage growth is anaemic. The recovery has not yet built momentum and there are risks that it may stall. But there is also reason to hope that 2015 was the year that the Australian labour market started to come back to health.

Industrial relations analysis is traditionally based on a consideration of how institutional actors engage with and shape regulatory frameworks and how these frameworks impact on the determination of wages and conditions at work. Undoubtedly, the institutional and regulatory architecture remain significant factors in gender equality outcomes, and in 2015 multiple government reviews and inquiries into that architecture contributed to a sense of policy flux despite few substantive changes. This article will provide an overview of those policy developments most pertinent to women and work in 2015. Specifically changes to the Paid Parental Leave scheme, the expansion of Domestic Violence Leave and the implications of the lifetime income gap for women are considered. However, in addition to the overview of the policy landscape, this review emphasises that the actions of individuals also impact gender equality outcomes. An illustrative example is provided in a modest attempt to highlight the agency of individual actors and how this, in interaction with other institutional forces, shapes the broader regulatory environment.

Employers and their associations were enthusiastic participants in a year of public discussion about the future of industrial relations (IR). Employer associations put forward a set of carefully considered views about their preferred IR policy and regulatory settings in detailed submissions to the major IR Inquiry of the Productivity Commission. They also engaged in an ongoing public relations campaign to support those employers seeking changes to employee entitlements, in particular through penalty rates reforms. As was the case last year however, the realisation of the employers’ IR agenda, many aspects of which are supported by the Coalition Government and the Productivity Commission, remains either stalled in a divided Federal Parliament, or otherwise are reforms that must await the outcome of the forthcoming federal election.

For Australian unions, 2015 was a difficult year. Union membership and agreement-making continued to decline, and unions faced intense scrutiny from the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption and the Productivity Commission's inquiry into workplace relations. The protection of local employment standards and the exploitation of migrant workers were at the core of prominent union campaigns. In the federal public sector, as in parts of private industry, unions faced protracted negotiations with employers. In some states, unions enjoyed a more favourable climate under Labor governments. Ahead of the forthcoming federal election, unions refocused on grassroots campaigning in marginal electorates as the prospect of legislative reforms to industrial relations looms large.

This review article examines the impact of another year of tumult in federal politics on the Coalition Government’s workplace reform agenda. The article outlines the fortunes of the industrial relations bills the Government had introduced into Parliament in 2013–2014, and a number of others introduced in 2015. These include a bill to implement former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s proposed dilution of the federally-funded paid parental leave scheme. In addition, the Productivity Commission’s proposals for changes to the federal workplace relations framework are examined and assessed, along with the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption Final Report, as these are shaping the reform debate in the lead-up to the forthcoming federal election. The article then examines significant legislative developments at state level. The article concludes by assessing the likely direction of labour law change under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

A number of significant Federal Court and Fair Work Commission decisions decided in 2015 reveal the approach that each institution (the court on one hand and an administrative tribunal on the other) has taken to the interpretation and application of important workplace law principles and rules. These include the abiding question of ‘who is an employee’ and therefore covered by workplace laws; how the General Protections in the Fair Work Act should operate; what constitutes ‘fair’ treatment for the purposes of the Commission’s unfair dismissal and workplace bullying jurisdictions; and how flexibly (or technically) the rules for enterprise bargaining should be applied.

This article looks at the transformational changes and innovations occurring within the Fair Work Commission (the Commission) in response to changes in the workplace relations, economic and social environments. Beginning with a discussion on defining, measuring and communicating success in the public sector and the challenges of applying public value concepts to gauge the performance of courts and tribunals, the article then considers the changing nature of the Commission’s work, a shift from collective to individual dispute resolution with a corresponding increase in the number of applications lodged. The response is the Future Directions program, over 50 new initiatives aimed at enhancing the public value of the Commission. Future Directions encompasses four broad themes: promoting fairness and improving access; efficiency and innovation; increasing accountability and productivity; and engaging with industry. The implementation of Future Directions has significantly improved the service and public value that the Commission provides to the community and enhances the Commission’s standing as one of Australia’s key national institutions.

The growth of income inequality is now recognized to be one of the most important developments in employment relations of our time. While inequality has increased in many parts of the world, it has been most pronounced in the United States. We review the factors that have been suggested to cause the growth in inequality and, given these multiple causes, suggest a set of actions that might begin to reverse this trend. We give special attention to the changes in the employment relationship related to labor market institutions – including unions and other forms of worker representation, wage regulations and enforcement, and safety net policy – while also accounting for explanations and proposals that focus on technology, skills and education, and globalization. Additionally, we argue that emerging forms of organizational restructuring are becoming increasingly important to the study of inequality and its remedies.