Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 7-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

A Collective Catastrophe: Productivity Maximisation and Workplace Bargaining in the Australian Coal Industry

A Collective Catastrophe: Productivity Maximisation and Workplace Bargaining in the Australian... Since 1987 Australian trade unions have endorsed productivity-based bargaining at the workplace level. In doing so, their general expectation has been that enhanced productivity would lead to higher wages and more profitable enterprises. In addition, by embracing what were seen as management's legitimate interests, unions sought to establish new collaborative relationships with employers. This article argues that the application of such principles to the Australian coal industry has resulted in a catastrophe for all concerned. While workplace reform in this industry has resulted in dramatic gains being achieved in terms of productivity and total output, this extra product simply added to world oversupply, driving down prices and increasing the pressures for further 'reforms'. This experience demonstrates the problems in evaluating industrial relations outcomes at a workplace level. For, while from an enterprise perspective productivity maximisation seems to be a rational response to increased competition, at an industry level a relentless drive by all producers for productivity improvements may appear as an act of collective madness, in which every competitor acts to fuel further cost and price reductions. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Industrial Relations SAGE

A Collective Catastrophe: Productivity Maximisation and Workplace Bargaining in the Australian Coal Industry

Bowden, Bradley
Journal of Industrial Relations , Volume 42 (3): 19 – Sep 1, 2000
Download PDF
19 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/a-collective-catastrophe-productivity-maximisation-and-workplace-xi7LFYozKd

References (41)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
Copyright © by SAGE Publications
ISSN
0022-1856
eISSN
1472-9296
DOI
10.1177/002218560004200303
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Since 1987 Australian trade unions have endorsed productivity-based bargaining at the workplace level. In doing so, their general expectation has been that enhanced productivity would lead to higher wages and more profitable enterprises. In addition, by embracing what were seen as management's legitimate interests, unions sought to establish new collaborative relationships with employers. This article argues that the application of such principles to the Australian coal industry has resulted in a catastrophe for all concerned. While workplace reform in this industry has resulted in dramatic gains being achieved in terms of productivity and total output, this extra product simply added to world oversupply, driving down prices and increasing the pressures for further 'reforms'. This experience demonstrates the problems in evaluating industrial relations outcomes at a workplace level. For, while from an enterprise perspective productivity maximisation seems to be a rational response to increased competition, at an industry level a relentless drive by all producers for productivity improvements may appear as an act of collective madness, in which every competitor acts to fuel further cost and price reductions.

Journal

Journal of Industrial Relations – SAGE

Published: Sep 1, 2000

There are no references for this article.