A history of industrial relations in the Sydney building trades, 1870-1914

The character and course of industrial regulation both before and upon the introduction of arbitration is a significant subject for study. Much is known of the economic, social and political conditions which led to arbitration but less of its industrial transition or early operation. The collapse of the pre-existing forms of regulation in the depression of the 1890s and the dominance of arbitration after 1900 has generally precluded disaggregated studies of these issues. Yet to understand the industrial experience in particular sectors, the character of regulation before 1890, when and how it changed and the effects of arbitration on relations between unions and employers need to be addressed. The Sydney building trades in the period 1870 to 1914 provide a suitable case study; the industry was an important one in the developing economy, accounting for a large component of the labour force and its workers and employers were organised. The study is historical and traces the course of industrial regulation from union rulemaking to collective bargaining, during state intervention and upon the introduction of arbitration. It focuses on the institutions of workers and employers, the relations they developed and the economic and industrial conditions in which they decided their strategies. The argument put forward is that the transformation in the organisation of work and business organisation brought about by new contracting arrangements had a significant impact on the character of industrial regulation before 1890. The multi-trade employers or master builders who replaced single-trade masters challenged union rules and tradesmen's limited job control. There was a shift to collective bargaining, but the agreements did not endure in the depression. However, unions' and employers' reaction to the conjunction of problems brought about by the change in work organisation affected their response to state policies of the 1890s, their attitudes to arbitration and how they sought to use it.