This article examines the industrial action provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) in the context of international labour standards which protect the right to strike, particularly the International Labour Organisations’ Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise...

This article examines the recent changes to the federal legal regime that controls the taking of protected industrial action in Australia. It considers the impact of both the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 (Cth) and the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act...

Collective bargaining by small business actors, including independent contractors, is subject to the anti-competitive conduct provisions in Part IV of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (TPA). The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission can authorise the pursuit of conduct that would...

In December 2006, the Australian federal Parliament passed the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) which was designed to make it easier for small businesses to form collectives and engage in collective bargaining with larger suppliers or purchasers of their goods or services. This...

Most forms of labour regulation operate on the assumption that rights and protections should be accorded to employees, but not the self-employed. The need to question that binary divide is heightened by modern forms of business organisation that seek to separate the performance of work necessary...