Rediscovering Collective Bargaining: Australia's Fair Work Act in International Perspective

This book examines countries that have tried, with varying degrees of success, to use legislative strategies to encourage and support collective bargaining, including Australia’s Fair Work Act. It is the first major study of the operation and impact of the new collective bargaining framework introduced under the Fair Work Act, combining theoretical and practical perspectives. In addition, a number of comparative pieces provide rich insights into the Australian legislation’s adaptation of concepts from overseas collective bargaining systems – including good faith bargaining, and majority employee support as the basis for establishing bargaining rights. Contributors to this volume are all leading labor law, industrial relations, and human resource management scholars from Australia, and from Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

Breen Creighton is a Professor of Law at RMIT University in Australia. He has written extensively on employment law, equal opportunity law, international labour law, industrial law and occupational health and safety, and is joint-author of two of the leading texts on Labor Law in Australia.

Anthony Forsyth is Associate Professor & Director, Juris Doctor Programs, at RMIT University, Australia. He is also a Co-Editor of the Australian Journal of Labour Law, and the co-author of several books including Navigating the Fair Work Laws (2010). He is one of Australia’s leading researchers on statutory systems of collective bargaining, and has carried out numerous comparative studies of Australian, Canadian and United States collective bargaining law.