The New Employer Militancy
The New Employer Militancy
The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of employer militancy in Australian workforce after the 1980s. The essay is divided into three parts, with more emphasis on the latter two parts - the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of employer militancy. In the first part, a generic definition of employer militancy will be provided, followed by the key features of the hostile approach adopted by employers towards unions. Then the second part is looking at expanding from the first point, briefly summarise the cooperative approach used by employers towards unionism from the period of 1940s to 1980s. After that, a longer portion of the essay will be devoted to case studies that illustrate trends which show how employers have ‘bullied’ unions. Lastly, this paper will discuss why these militant behavours were taken by employers, considering influential factors such as the macroeconomics environment, politics and legal frameworks. Moreover, evidence will support the argument that the decline in trade union coverage as both the outcome and reason of this gradual change in approach – “employer militancy”. But what exactly is employer militancy?
Since the 1980s, intuitive Australian employers are increasingly hostile towards trade unions over their excess involvement in arbitration and dispute matters, creating the phenomenon of employer militancy. Alexander et al. (2008:97) define employer militancy as ‘willingness of employers to use legal action to secure punitive damages against a trade union’. It is an aggressive anti-union approach, in which employers actively seeking ways to marginalise trade unions, with the help of their employer organisation. There are several main features of a militant employer, behavours such as offensive lockout (Briggs, 2004:110) aims to reduce the bargaining power of the unions. They deliberately not letting the employees to return to work until unions have agreed to their conditions to lower or remove bargaining claims.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of employer militancy in Australian workforce after the 1980s. The essay is divided into three parts, with more emphasis on the latter two parts - the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of employer militancy. In the first part, a generic definition of employer militancy will be provided, followed by the key features of the hostile approach adopted by employers towards unions. Then the second part is looking at expanding from the first point, briefly summarise the cooperative approach used by employers towards unionism from the period of 1940s to 1980s. After that, a longer portion of the essay will be devoted to case studies that illustrate trends which show how employers have ‘bullied’ unions. Lastly, this paper will discuss why these militant behavours were taken by employers, considering influential factors such as the macroeconomics environment, politics and legal frameworks. Moreover, evidence will support the argument that the decline in trade union coverage as both the outcome and reason of this gradual change in approach – “employer militancy”. But what exactly is employer militancy?
Since the 1980s, intuitive Australian employers are increasingly hostile towards trade unions over their excess involvement in arbitration and dispute matters, creating the phenomenon of employer militancy. Alexander et al. (2008:97) define employer militancy as ‘willingness of employers to use legal action to secure punitive damages against a trade union’. It is an aggressive anti-union approach, in which employers actively seeking ways to marginalise trade unions, with the help of their employer organisation. There are several main features of a militant employer, behavours such as offensive lockout (Briggs, 2004:110) aims to reduce the bargaining power of the unions. They deliberately not letting the employees to return to work until unions have agreed to their conditions to lower or remove bargaining claims.
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