Thank god workchoices is gone eh?

[IQSRLOW]

http://www.batemansbaypost.com.au/news/ ... 09118.aspx

Nurses walk out

Eurobodalla nurses walked off the job this week during a state-wide strike to improve nurse-to-patient ratios.

It was the first time in almost 10 years that nurses had walked off the job to protest working conditions.

Why is it that when the Libs are in workers are happier and strikes were almost non-existent. As soon as Liebor get in conditions worsen and there are strikes galore

[Jovial Monk]

WorkChoices was bad, unfair regressive law. It also did not create a single job, except heaps morte bureaucrats in the Dept Workplace Relations. Yes I am glad it is gone.

[IQSRLOW]

It was the first time in almost 10 years that nurses had walked off the job to protest working conditions.

Looks like the nurses think that Killrudds IR platform sucks more than Johnnys

[boxy]

... there are strikes galore

*cough* Bullshite *cough*

[IQSRLOW]

... there are strikes galore

*cough* Bullshite *cough*

While you are coughing feel free to cough up why you think it is bullshit. Make sure you don't choke on you lovers second hand jizz

[IQSRLOW]

http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resour ... 805-1.html

Abstract

This paper comments on the remarkable decline in strikes in Australia over the last couple of decades in the light of the recent analysis of the same subject matter offered in the Australian Bulletin of Labour by Healy (2002). In this paper a somewhat different perspective is offered on the main factors contributing to the decline in strikes in Australia to that offered by Healy (and others). The paper is structured as follows. Section 1 presents a brief review of the extent of the decline in strikes and a summary of Healy's perspective on principal reasons for the decline. Section 2 comments on the possible impact on strikes of changes in inflation, as well as a selection of other possible explanatory factors tested in the analyses of Morris and Wilson (1994, 1995, 1999, 2000) and Beggs and Chapman (1987a) but not discussed in Healy. Section 3 explores the issue of the impact of the Accord on strikes, and Section 4 comments on selected international aspects of the decline in strikes. Some concluding thoughts are offered in Section 5.

1. The Decline in Strikes

The number of working days lost through strikes reached a post-World War II annual peak in 1974 of over 1,200 per thousand employees. In the year 2003 the number was 57, which represents a decline of 95 percent compared to the 1974 peak. The number of working days lost through strikes over wages, hours and leave--historically the dominant cause of strikes--fell from a peak of near 1100 in 1974 to around 6 in 2003. Figure 1 charts the annual Australian strike rate as measured by working days lost per thousand employees for the period 1960 to 2003. The figure splits strikes into two categories: (i) strikes over all issues, and (ii) strikes over wages, hours and leave issues. These charts give a visual perspective on the pattern of strikes over the last four decades or so. Note the parallels in the total pattern of strikes and the pattern for wages, hours and leave. Clearly there has been a dramatic decline in strike activity in Australia over the last 30 years, particularly with respect to strikes over wages, hours and leave.

In a recent review of the decline in strike activity in Australia, Healy (2002) identified three reasons for the downturn. The first reason is the decline in union density (the proportion of employees in unions).

[boxy]

Nice selective quoting, douchebag...

the article continues on...

The first reason is the decline in union density (the proportion of employees in unions). He notes that: ... there are direct parallels between the drop in [the] rate of disputes and declining union density (itself a result of other factors, such as a shift from manufacturing to service work). [p. 81]

Figure 2 charts union density over the same time frame as Figure 1. The upper line is the older measure of union density and is essentially an estimate based on the ratio of total reported trade union members to the number in thousands of (employed) employees. Some union members may be unfinancial (i.e. in arrears), some may be retired and some may be members of more than one union. Nonetheless they are all counted in the old measure. The lower line is the newer measure of union density. It measures the proportion of employees who are financial members (as defined) of trade unions in their main job. (See the Data Appendix for more detailed discussion of these indices.) Regardless of which union density index is viewed, there has been a clear decline in union density in Australia over the last couple of decades, but in particular over the last decade. Thus Healy is correct to draw attention to the direct parallels between strikes and union density over the last couple of decades. However, the parallels between strikes and density prior to the 1980s and 1990s are not quite as unambiguous. Union density during the 1960s and 1970s does not, at least on the surface, seem to have a particularly strong parallel relation with strikes during this period.

The paper goes on to actually look at the real determining factors. And it gives at least as much credit for the downward trend in strikes to the Accord system, as the Workchoices legislation. The overall economic situation, the changing nature of labour (service oriented rather than labouring), and a workplace safety system which effectively deals with problems all come into it.

Used to be that unions and strikes were the only way to get management to listen. Now they listen to their insurance companies and legislators, who demand safe working conditions.

[IQSRLOW]

... there are strikes galore

*cough* Bullshite *cough*

So you admit that there are more strikes under Liebor govts, douchebag?

[boxy]

No... I dispute the description of strikes being "galore"

[IQSRLOW]

Used to be that unions and strikes were the only way to get management to listen. Now they listen to their insurance companies and legislators, who demand safe working conditions.

You can grovel at the feet of Johnny once again, douchebag
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