ACCORD

In Australian Industrial Relations the Accord period was a period of industrial peace and class collaboration, suggested by the Communist Party of Australia in the late 1970s as a response to a perceived productivity crisis, and actively taken up and implemented as government policy after 1983 by an Australian Labor Party government under Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Accord was an agreement between trade unions, the government, and employers to restrict wage demands, inflation and price rises respectively. This was seen as a method to increase productivity without reducing the living standards of Australians. At the beginning of the Accord, only one union, the New South Wales Nurses Federation (then controlled by radicals), voted against the Accord. The Accord broke down in the late 1980s and lead to the enterprise bargaining period.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Criticisms of the Accord generally come from the revolutionary left within Australia, who claim that it kept real wages stagnant for over ten years, destroyed union membership and strength, and caused real suffering for members of the Australian working class.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Industrial Relations: Industrial relations is a multidisciplinary field that studies the employment relationship. Industrial relations is increasingly being called employment relations because of the importance of non-industrial employment relationships. Many outsiders also equate industrial relations to labour relation...

Class collaboration: Class collaboration is a principle of social organization that forms part of Fascist philosophy. It is based upon the belief that the division of society into a hierarchy of social classes is a positive and essential aspect of civilization. In the words of Benito Mussolini, " affirms the irremediabl...

Communist Party of Australia: :This article is about the historical Communist Party of Australia, dissolved in 1991. For the current party, see Communist Party of Australia (revived)...