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Recasting peak union power: the Labor Council of New South Wales and the 2001 workers' compensation dispute.
- Article from:
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Labour & Industry
- Article date:
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August 1, 2007
- Author:
- Rathmell, Aaron
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2007 Centre For Workplace Culture Change. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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This article examines the evolution of power relations between the Labor Council of New South Wales and state Labor governments, culminating in the dramatic 2001 workers' compensation dispute. An emerging body of theory on peak union power and agency is surveyed and adapted to help explain the significance of the dispute in a theoretically and historically informed manner. Drawing upon archival material and interviews with key union and government sources, it is argued that the exceptionally militant actions of the Labor Council leadership during the dispute were a strategic response to a crisis in the peak union's role as an agent of political exchange between the union movement and the ...