I think this article had great potential but failed to ask the most fundemental question on the Labour situation in this country today. Why do we still refer to mamagement and Labour in 2008 shouldn't we just discuss the benefits of making a profit for all concerned?

Mark

Thanks for this article.

I am not quite sure I understand the fundamental premise. Are you arguing for a 19th century federation style settlement between Labour and capital, part of which included conciliation and arbitration?

The on-going debates within the union and left wing movements about C&A and alternatives, such as direct action, are reflected I think in this article in which you appear to regard the state as some sort of neutral arbiter. The capitalist state as neutral? I don't think so.

I also think award simplification for example is actually about stripping away rights and conditions.

I think the essence of what you write may well be encapsulated the first post - shouldn't we all just be about making more profit?
That is a view the trade union movement adopted enthusiastically during the Accord, and lost membership hand over fist as a consequence. This approach also saw the profit share of GDP increase at the expense of the wages share.

Call collaboration has been and will be a disaster.
Collective bargaining depends on the strength, ability and willingness of workers to uses their industrial power to extract more form an employer. Unlike you for me that more covers wage increases as a well as other things like work/life balance.

Anyway, thanks again. I enjoyed reading this.

Yes, Rudd is (fingers crossed) no fool and knows that centralization & pandering to unions is not in the country’s best interests – just the opposite. Productivity agreements & enterprise bargaining are. Thank God for Hawke / Keating / Button et al in those heady days. They were the only ones who could take on the unions and win at the same time. The far left are living in the stone age when they think centralization is the way to go. Time to move forward – the rest of the world has.