Abstract:
The decline in industrial disputes over the last two or three decades in Australia
and abroad has been noted by labour market researchers and commentators in
general. Most if not all of this recent research and commentary focuses on post-
World War II experience, and in particular the period commencing with the
1960s. This paper reviews the recent decline in disputation in a broad historical
context and compares recent experience with a near-century's worth of official
data collected on the topic. It is noted that the recent decline in disputes is in
many respects quite unprecedented, and that the characteristics of disputes in
more recent years have been markedly dissimilar to the characteristics exhibited
in earlier eras.
