IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecolab/v17y2007i2p77-97.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Statutory Union Recognition in North America and the UK: Lessons for Australia?

Author

Listed:
  • Chris Briggs

Abstract

Should the Australian labour movement pursue a system of statutory union recognition? The experiences of the UK and Canada illustrate that such a system can address some of the worst breaches of freedom of association under the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth). However, the influence on union density and collective bargaining coverage is likely to be modest. It may also constitute a structural impediment to multi-employer bargaining, boxing unions into a system of fragmented bargaining, and results are sensitive to institutional design so there could be serious consequences if the system was re-engineered towards the US model in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Chris Briggs, 2007. "Statutory Union Recognition in North America and the UK: Lessons for Australia?," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 17(2), pages 77-97, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:17:y:2007:i:2:p:77-97
    DOI: 10.1177/103530460701700205
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/103530460701700205
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/103530460701700205?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chris Riddell, 2001. "Union suppression and certification success," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 34(2), pages 396-410, May.
    2. Sarah Oxenbridge & William Brown & Simon Deakin & Cliff Pratten, 2003. "Initial Responses to the Statutory Recognition Provisions of the Employment Relations Act 1999," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(2), pages 315-334, June.
    3. Chris Riddell, 2004. "Union Certification Success under Voting versus Card-Check Procedures: Evidence from British Columbia, 1978–1998," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 57(4), pages 493-517, July.
    4. Susan Johnson, 2002. "Card Check or Mandatory Representation Vote? How the Type of Union Recognition Procedure Affects Union Certification Success," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(479), pages 344-361, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bradley R. Weinberg, 2015. "A Quantitative Assessment of the Effect of First Contract Arbitration on Bargaining Relationships," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 449-477, July.
    2. Henry S. Farber, 2013. "Union Organizing Decisions in a Deteriorating Environment: The Composition of Representation Elections and the Decline in Turnout," Working Papers 577, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    3. Timothy J. Bartkiw, 2008. "Manufacturing Descent? Labour Law and Union Organizing in the Province of Ontario," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 34(1), pages 111-132, March.
    4. Alex Bryson & Richard Freeman & Rafael Gomez & Paul Willman, 2017. "The Twin Track Model of Employee Voice: An Anglo-American Perspective on Union Decline and the Rise of Alternative Forms of Voice," DoQSS Working Papers 17-13, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    5. Scott Legree, Tammy Schirle, Mikal Skuterud, 2014. "The Effect of Labour Relations Laws on Union Density Rates: Evidence from Canadian Provinces," LCERPA Working Papers 0078, Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis, revised 08 Sep 2014.
    6. Farber, Henry S, 2014. "Union Organizing Decisions in a Deteriorating Environment: The Composition of Representation Elections and the Decline in Turnout," IZA Discussion Papers 7964, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Henry S. Farber, 2014. "Union Organizing Decisions in a Deteriorating Environment: The Composition of Representation Elections and the Decline in Turnout," NBER Working Papers 19908, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Chris Riddell, 2013. "Labor Law and Reaching a First Collective Agreement: Evidence From a Quasi-Experimental Set of Reforms in Ontario," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 702-736, July.
    9. Scott Legree & Tammy Schirle & Mikal Skuterud, 2017. "The Effect of Labor Relations Laws on Unionization Rates within the Labor Force: Evidence from the Canadian Provinces," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(4), pages 605-639, October.
    10. Melanie Simms, 2015. "Accounting for Greenfield Union Organizing Outcomes," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(3), pages 397-422, September.
    11. Michele Campolieti & Chris Riddell & Sara Slinn, 2007. "Labor Law Reform and the Role of Delay in Union Organizing: Empirical Evidence from Canada," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 61(1), pages 32-58, October.
    12. John Godard, 2007. "Unions, Work Practices, and Wages under Different Institutional Environments: The Case of Canada and England," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(4), pages 457-476, July.
    13. Adrienne E. Eaton & Jill Kriesky, 2009. "Nlrb Elections versus Card Check Campaigns: Results of a Worker Survey," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(2), pages 157-172, January.
    14. John Godard, 2003. "Labour Unions, Workplace Rights and Canadian Public Policy," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 29(4), pages 449-467, December.
    15. Ian Thomas MacDonald, 2014. "Towards Neoliberal Trade Unionism: Decline, Renewal and Transformation in North American Labour Movements," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(4), pages 725-752, December.
    16. Salvatori, Andrea, 2012. "Union threat and non-union employment: A natural experiment on the use of temporary employment in British firms," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 944-956.
    17. Alexander C. Lembcke, 2014. "The Impact of Mandatory Entitlement to Paid Leave on Employment in the UK," CEP Discussion Papers dp1262, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    18. Alison Booth & Richard Freeman & Xin Meng & Jilu Zhang, 2022. "Trade Unions and the Welfare of Rural-Urban Migrant Workers in China," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 75(4), pages 974-1000, August.
    19. Henry S. Farber, 2009. "Rational Choice and Voter Turnout: Evidence from Union Representation Elections," Working Papers 1200, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    20. John Godard, 2009. "Institutional Environments, Work and Human Resource Practices, and Unions: Canada versus England," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(2), pages 173-199, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:17:y:2007:i:2:p:77-97. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.