The implications of de‐collectivist industrial relations laws and associated developments for worker health and safety in Australia, 1996–2007

Abstract

The institutional and regulatory interlinkages between industrial relations (IR) and occupational health and safety (OHS) are seldom explored in the IR literature. This article begins to address this gap by examining regulatory initiatives in Australia during a period of neoliberal government. It examines the laws enacted by the federal government during this period and events and cases arising from these laws that go some way to illustrating their effects. Evidence is also drawn from detailed research on a number of state OHS inspectorates between 2004 and 2006. It is argued that de-collectivist changes to IR laws exacerbated problems posed by the growth of flexible work arrangements and a drop in union density, weakening participatory provisions in OHS laws and promoting work arrangements that undermined OHS standards. The study provides evidence of the implications of a divergence in the trajectory of IR and OHS laws and the importance of better integrating worker protection laws.

Representing workers on occupational safety and health: some lessons from a largely ignored history

“…In the almost 150 years since their origins, thinking behind their renewal and extension has continued to take account of underlying labour relations conflict in the sector (Walters et al, ). This is in sharp contrast to the erosion of worker OSH representation in other sectors arising from increasingly anti‐collectivist industrial relations in Australia (Quinlan and Johnstone, ).…”

“…In the almost 150 years since their origins, thinking behind their renewal and extension has continued to take account of underlying labour relations conflict in the sector (Walters et al, 2018). This is in sharp contrast to the erosion of worker OSH representation in other sectors arising from increasingly anticollectivist industrial relations in Australia (Quinlan and Johnstone, 2009). Walters and Wadsworth (2019) show that the present balance of power within work organisations means that notions of cooperation and partnership on OSH risk descending into the incorporation of workers' representatives into systems under managerial control where autonomous worker voice is lost.…”

Safety representatives' views on their interaction with workers in a context of unequal power relations: An exploratory qualitative study in Barcelona (Spain)

“…Although the paper addresses some examples in Spain, similar signs of a lack of interaction have been detected in other countries [Walters and Haines, ; Jacod, ]. In a context of increasing challenges for industrial action in occupational health [Quinlan and Johnstone, ], ensuring effective workers' representation has come to be, more than ever, an essential duty in order to protect health and safety at work and hence, the greater the need to analyze further how the interaction between workers and SRs can be improved.…”

“…According to a recent review on factors affecting SRs' effectiveness conducted by the EPSARE project [Menéndez et al, ], they can be categorized by: social and political conditions, conditions within firms; and conditions of safety representatives. On the one hand, social, labor market and health and safety policies and regulations are influential on the sharing of power between capital and labor and affect the extent to which workers can participate [Walters and Nichols, ; Quinlan and Johnstone, ]. SRs' effectiveness is enhanced when having the backing of management, unions, and administration [Shannon et al, ; Eaton and Nocerino, ; Milgate et al, ; Hovden et al, ; Walters et al, ; Yassi et al, ].…”

Managing work health and safety: recent developments and future directions

“…Second, insecure employment and declining unionism, coupled with more assertive and anti‐union employer approaches, have resulted in the collectivist principles underpinning worker involvement in OHS becoming irrelevant to many workplaces. Quinlan and Johnstone's () study suggests health and safety representatives are limited to unionised workplaces in Australia, of which there are a diminishing number. Even countries with strong traditions of worker representation, such as Sweden, have experienced declining levels of OHS worker representation in the face of hostile management and government policies (Frick ).…”