Work Reform Unit
Economics & Deregulation / Work Reform Unit
The Institute of Public Affairs Work Reform Unit examines workplace relations issues. The Unit looks at how laws and social attitudes impact the ability of managers to run businesses and maximise employment opportunities. The Work Reform Unit looks at workplace occupational health and safety issues, union activity in industrial sectors, skilled immigration, and the rise of the independent contractor.
Work safety
What are the basic principles of work safety in law and in practice? The Work Reform Unit grounds the study of occupational health and safety legal regimes from a position of individual responsiblity and freedom of contract. For an introduction, see Workplace Health and Safety. The seminal IPA report The Politics of a Tragedy: The Gretley Mine Disaster and NSW OHS examines how the Gretley coal mining disaster triggered the introduction of Australia's worst OHS laws in NSW. More Work Safety publications.
The Australian construction sector
The Work Reform Unit has a special focus on examining the market-corrupting practices endemic in the construction sector, and looking at the impact of the legal reforms of 2006-07 that focused on cleaning out much of that corruption. See for instance Anatomy of the Screw and Industrial Relations and the Struggle to Build in Victoria.
The Work Reform held a major conference on construction industry reforms in 2007. Papers from the conference are available here.
See also
Capacity to manage index: the Work Reform Unit has rated over 250 industrial instruments and their impact on managerial capacity in a wide variety of industries. See Capacity to Manage Reports.
The state of the food manufacturing sector: studies uncovering some key reasons why the Australian food manufacturing sector is underperforming. See Food Manufacturing Facing the Wall and Take Away Take Away.
Outworking: the unusually high industrial relations regulation of the clothing manufacturing sector, allegedly introduced to protect outworkers, has in fact damaged some of the most vulnerable workers in Australia. See Why Has the Arse Fallen Out of the Clothing Manufacturing Industry? and Outworkers Speak Out.
Casual Employment: the Work Reform held a conference on casual employment in 2004. Discussion papers from the conference are available here.
Industrial Relations and Trade Practices Law: The Work Reform Unit held two conferences in 2003 and 2004 on how trade practices legislation could and should impact industrial relations. Papers from the conferences are avialable here: Trade Practices vs Industrial Relations: Balancing the Acts (2004) and The Last Frontier: Making Industrial Relations Subject to the TPA (2003).
Sub-topics of Work Reform Unit
News
The system suffers when everyone has somewhere to hide
This global financial crisis is testing to extremes every idea and tool economic regulators possess. But regulators don't demonstrate any...
ABCC passes public interest test
The Australian Building and Construction Commission operates an oppressive kangaroo court. It victimizes innocent construction workers and...
Fair pay will lead to unfair results
Two weeks ago the Fair Pay Commission awarded a 4.1 per cent pay increase to the 1.3 million workers who earn the minimum wage. While most...
Co-operative deferralism
Co-operative federalism sounds good in theory. In theory, after the election of the Rudd government Australia was going to have lots of cooperative...
Drums are beating for Iemma
Of all Labor governments across Australia, NSW seems to be the one tearing itself apart. What's happening is critical to Labor nationally and to...
Developers have building blocks to get better results
It's long been a dream of many in the Melbourne construction sector to build medium-density apartments at the same cost of building housing in the...
Publications
Submission to the National Review of Occupational Health and Safety Laws
The covert return of the Industrial Relations Club
One of the few positive results of the Howard government's WorkChoices reforms was that the old ‘Industrial Relations Club'-the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Australian Chamber...
Has the ALP shifted too much for the Liberal Party?
Let's be blunt: at the state level, it seems like the Liberal Party is achieving little more than self-destruction. Why is this so? The answer can be found in the Australian Labor Party. The ALP has completely transformed itself. Certainly, the...
