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Office of Fair and Safe Work Queensland
Department of Justice and Attorney-General
Home > Industrial Relations > Report on the decline in the collectivist model

Report on the decline in the collectivist model

Purpose

The purpose of this report is to illustrate the process of collective bargaining by unions, on behalf of their members to negotiate wages and employment conditions. Collective bargaining is considered to be central to overcome the imbalance in the power of employers and individual employees. Individual contracting is the antithesis of collective bargaining despite the fact that this does not necessarily equate to 'individual employment arrangements'.

Issues covered

Outcomes

The decline in the collectivist model of employment relations has arisen from institutional and economic forces, not from fundamental changes in what workers want. It has significant implications for the power and well-being of employees and the distribution of income and wealth. While the tribunal-based model of collectivism that dominated industrial relations through the twentieth century is unlikely to return, the shift towards individualisation is neither permanent nor something that governments can do nothing about. While the areas of action that a state government can undertake are limited by the operation of the federal system, and the Queensland jurisdiction is already more collectivist oriented than the current federal jurisdiction, there is nonetheless a range of policies, with varying degrees of efficiency that could be considered and enacted.

Date created

28/06/2004

View full report on The Decline in the Collectivist Model (PDF, 708 KB)

Title and contents (PDF, 144 KB)

Executive summary (PDF, 138 KB)

1 Purpose of report (PDF, 111 KB)

2 What are collectivism and individualism? (PDF, 193 KB)

3 Is collectivism declining and how? (PDF, 366 KB)

4 Why has collectivism been changing? (PDF, 241 KB)

5 What are the effects of declining collectivism? (PDF, 295 KB)

6 Policy implications (PDF, 285 KB)

References (PDF, 217 KB)

Last updated July 26, 2005