TY - JOUR
T1 - Industrial conflict in paradise: Making the Bougainville copper project construction agreement 1970
AU - Hess, Michael
AU - Maidment, Ewan
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - In 1969, construction began on Conzinc Riotinto Australia's huge copper and gold mine at Panguna on the island of Bougainville in what was then the Australian-administered Territory of Papua New Guinea. The mining project was unlike any Australians had previously undertaken, and its construction created complexities which Australian managers and industrial relations systems had not previously encountered. The complexity of employment relations on this project was increased by the political environment of colonial rule and the responses of Australian workers and unions. This article looks at the development of the first industrial agreement during the mine's construction phase and places it in the context of the creation of a sustainable bargaining structure, which succeeded in mitigating industrial conflict for two decades before the outbreak of a wider armed conflict.
AB - In 1969, construction began on Conzinc Riotinto Australia's huge copper and gold mine at Panguna on the island of Bougainville in what was then the Australian-administered Territory of Papua New Guinea. The mining project was unlike any Australians had previously undertaken, and its construction created complexities which Australian managers and industrial relations systems had not previously encountered. The complexity of employment relations on this project was increased by the political environment of colonial rule and the responses of Australian workers and unions. This article looks at the development of the first industrial agreement during the mine's construction phase and places it in the context of the creation of a sustainable bargaining structure, which succeeded in mitigating industrial conflict for two decades before the outbreak of a wider armed conflict.
U2 - 10.1177/1035304614533625
DO - 10.1177/1035304614533625
M3 - Article
VL - 25
SP - 271
EP - 289
JO - The Economic and Labour Relations Review
JF - The Economic and Labour Relations Review
IS - 2
ER -