IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecolab/v27y2016i1p81-97.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reshaping the public service bargain in Queensland 2009–2014: Responding to austerity?

Author

Listed:
  • Linda Colley

Abstract

This is a study of the renegotiation of pay, employment security, and of the relationship between government and public sector unions, in an Australian state public service during and after the global financial crisis. It examines the extent to which this renegotiation of the ‘public service bargain’ was necessitated by austerity requirements, and the extent to which the crisis provided an opportunity for the deprivileging of public employment that has been an enduring feature of the neoliberal state. A case study of the different approaches of two Queensland governments to their relationships with public sector workers between 2009 and 2014, it tracks two key measures of wages and staff numbers, as well as the consequences of breaches of the trust relationships of the traditional public sector bargain. Given the moderate nature of Australia’s economic downturn, the implementation of public service austerity measures was less an economic necessity than an opportunity for a conservative government to alter employment policies and sever union relationships. This continuation of public sector employment relations favoured by previous conservative governments had electoral consequences.

Suggested Citation

  • Linda Colley, 2016. "Reshaping the public service bargain in Queensland 2009–2014: Responding to austerity?," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 27(1), pages 81-97, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:27:y:2016:i:1:p:81-97
    DOI: 10.1177/1035304616631421
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1035304616631421
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1035304616631421?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. Cazes, Sandrine., 2009. "Labour market policies in times of crisis," ILO Working Papers 994341633402676, International Labour Organization.
    2. Linda Colley & Brian Head, 2013. "Changing Patterns of Privatization: Ideology, Economic Necessity, or Political Opportunism," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(12), pages 865-875.
    3. Robert Skidelsky, 2015. "Austerity: The wrong story," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 26(3), pages 377-383, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Linda Colley & Shelley Woods & Brian Head, 2022. "Pandemic effects on public service employment in Australia," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 33(1), pages 56-79, March.

    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. Lonnie Golden & Stuart Glosser, 2013. "Work sharing as a potential policy tool for creating more and better employment: A review of the evidence," Chapters, in: Jon C. Messenger & Naj Ghosheh (ed.), Work Sharing during the Great Recession, chapter 7, pages 203-258, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Freyssinet, Jacques., 2010. "Les réponses tripartites à la crise économique dans les principaux pays d'Europe occidentale," ILO Working Papers 994567583402676, International Labour Organization.
    3. Gratiela Georgiana Carica, 2011. "A Framework Analysis Of European Labour Market Policies," CES Working Papers, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 3(1), pages 13-21, March.
    4. Gina Cristina Dimian & Bogdan Ileanu & Josef Jablonský & Jan Fábry, 2013. "Analysis of European Labour Market in the Crisis Context," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2013(1), pages 50-71.
    5. Christine Erhel & Charlotte Levionnois, 2013. "Labour Market Policies in Times of Crisis: A Comparison of the 1992-1993 and 2008-2010 Recessions," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00880933, HAL.
    6. Verick, Sher. & Islam, Iyanatul,, 2010. "The great recession of 2008-2009 : causes, consequences and policy responses," ILO Working Papers 994576933402676, International Labour Organization.
    7. Christine Erhel & Charlotte Levionnois, 2013. "Labour Market Policies in Times of Crisis: A Comparison of the 1992-1993 and 2008-2010 Recessions," Post-Print halshs-00880933, HAL.
    8. repec:ilo:ilowps:467629 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Alessio Brown & Johannes Koettl, 2015. "Active labor market programs - employment gain or fiscal drain?," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-36, December.
    10. repec:ilo:ilowps:460940 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Christine Erhel & Charlotte Levionnois, 2015. "Labour Market Policies in Times of Crisis: A Reaction Function Approach for the Period 1985–2010," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 29(2), pages 141-162, June.
    12. Dietz, Martin & Stops, Michael & Walwei, Ulrich, 2012. "Securing Jobs in Times of Recession. The German Experience during the Financial Crisis 2008/2009/Asegurando los puestos de trabajo en tiempos de recesión. La experiencia alemana durante la crisis fina," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 30, pages 59-100, Abril.
    13. Liana SON & Gratiela Georgiana CARICA, 2010. "The Dynamics of the European Labour Market and Unemployment in the Present Context of Global Economic Crisis: The Case of Romania," Timisoara Journal of Economics, West University of Timisoara, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 3(1(9)), pages 57-64.
    14. Christine Erhel & Charlotte Levionnois, 2013. "Labour Market Policies in Times of Crisis: A Comparison of the 1992-1993 and 2008-2010 Recessions," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 13060, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    15. Cazes, Sandrine. & Verick, Sher. & Al Hussami, Fares., 2011. "Diverging trends in unemployment in the United States and Europe : evidence from Okun's law and the global financial crisis," ILO Working Papers 994676293402676, International Labour Organization.
    16. repec:ilo:ilowps:457693 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Cazes, Sandrine. & Verick, Sher., 2010. "What role for labour market policies and institutions in development? : enhancing security in developing countries and emerging economies," ILO Working Papers 994609403402676, International Labour Organization.
    18. Stephen Bach, 2016. "Deprivileging the public sector workforce: Austerity, fragmentation and service withdrawal in Britain," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 27(1), pages 11-28, March.
    19. Rolph van der Hoeven, 2010. "Labour Markets Trends, Financial Globalization and the current crisis in Developing Countries," Working Papers 99, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    20. Linda Colley & Shelley Woods & Brian Head, 2022. "Pandemic effects on public service employment in Australia," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 33(1), pages 56-79, March.
    21. Kümmerling, Angelika. & Lehndorff, Steffen., 2013. "The use of working time-related crisis response measures during the Great Recession," ILO Working Papers 994841273402676, International Labour Organization.
    22. João Carlos Lopes & João Ferreira do Amaral, 2017. "Self-defeating austerity? Assessing the impact of a fiscal consolidation on unemployment," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 28(1), pages 77-90, March.
    23. repec:ilo:ilowps:484127 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. repec:ilo:ilowps:456758 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. repec:ilo:ilowps:460361 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Sandrine Cazes & Sher Verick & Fares Al Hussami, 2013. "Why did unemployment respond so differently to the global financial crisis across countries? Insights from Okun’s Law," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-18, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Austerity; collective bargaining; economic stimulus; employment conditions; employment security; global financial crisis; industrial/employment relations policy; neoliberalism; public sector bargain; trade unions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
    • J58 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Public Policy

    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:27:y:2016:i:1:p:81-97. 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.