The Paradox Of ACTU Hegemony

Abstract

The hegemony of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) during the Accord era remains an unexplained paradox. International and Australian studies uniformly agreed that one of the key preconditions for a stable political exchange—a powerful national union federation and centralised union movement—did not exist in Australia. It will be argued, firstly, the organisational fragmentation of Australian unionism—which led observers to define the movement as decentralised—masked a concentrated power structure and, secondly, these studies neglected the linkages between the ACTU, union structure and state institutions that are the key to the growth of ACTU power. The Accord was a unique phase in Australian labour history, but the preconditions for a powerful union federation were deeply embedded features of Australia's industrial relations institutions.