We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Arbitration or Collaboration? The Australasian Society of Engineers in South Australia, 1904-68.
- Authors
Saunders, Malcolm; Lloyd, Neil
- Abstract
Although Australia's metal trades unions have been extensively studied by historians, sociologists, and students of industrial relations, one of the two leading engineering unions in this country--the Australasian Society of Engineers (ASE) --has almost been totally ignored. Yet the ASE, most notably in South Australia, pursued a remarkably independent course with regard to political orientation and industrial relations, one that set it apart from not only other metal trades unions but also other state branches of the union. Well before the onset of the Cold War in the late 1940s the ASE in South Australia had become a spearhead of anti-communism in that state and only afew years later a champion of a collaborationist approach toward leading employers. The union neither totally conforms to the 'business unionism' model formulated by American sociologist Selig Perlman nor fits neatly into either the mobilisational or arbitrationist moulds detailed by Australian industrial relations scholar Tom Bramble. Rather, it brings to mind claims made by Margaret Gardner and Gill Palmer that unions seldom start out with a well-thought-out strategy but rather develop one over a long period of time.
- Subjects
AUSTRALIA; SOUTH Australia; LABOR unions; ENGINEERS; INDUSTRIAL relations; ANTI-communist movements; COMMUNISM; WAR work; WORLD War II; HISTORY
- Publication
Labour History, 2011, Issue 101, p123
- ISSN
0023-6942
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5263/labourhistory.101.0123