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Reshaping the public service bargain in Queensland 2009–2014: Responding to austerity?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Linda Colley
Linda Colley*
Affiliation:
Central Queensland University, Australia
*
Linda Colley, School of Business and Law, Central Queensland University, Level 4, 160 Ann Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia. Email: l.colley@cqu.edu.au
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Abstract

This is a study of the renegotiation of pay, employment security, and of the relationship between government and public sector unions, in an Australian state public service during and after the global financial crisis. It examines the extent to which this renegotiation of the ‘public service bargain’ was necessitated by austerity requirements, and the extent to which the crisis provided an opportunity for the deprivileging of public employment that has been an enduring feature of the neoliberal state. A case study of the different approaches of two Queensland governments to their relationships with public sector workers between 2009 and 2014, it tracks two key measures of wages and staff numbers, as well as the consequences of breaches of the trust relationships of the traditional public sector bargain. Given the moderate nature of Australia’s economic downturn, the implementation of public service austerity measures was less an economic necessity than an opportunity for a conservative government to alter employment policies and sever union relationships. This continuation of public sector employment relations favoured by previous conservative governments had electoral consequences.

Keywords

H72J45J58Austeritycollective bargainingeconomic stimulusemployment conditionsemployment securityglobal financial crisisindustrial/employment relations policyneoliberalismpublic sector bargaintrade unions
Type
Symposium Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 27 , Issue 1: Symposium: Public Service Employment Relations and Austerity: Challenges and Consequences , March 2016 , pp. 81 - 97
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2016

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