Here to Stay? The 1997–1998 Australian Waterfront Dispute and Its Implications

Abstract

The aim of this article is to bring together material from a range of media sources to provide an accessible and critical overview of the 1998 Australian waterfront dispute. It is argued that the dispute demonstrates the ways in which recent changes to Australian industrial relations policies represent both continuities and new directions. The outcomes of the dispute also demonstrate the dilemmas facing unions in resisting corporate and state assaults in an age of globalisation. Globalisation has created many new threats—but also some new opportunities—for labour movements around the world. A key lesson of the Australian waterfront dispute is that it is more true than ever that local and national struggles between labour and capital are now fought on a global stage and require transnational resistance and solidarity.