THREE AUSTRALIAN lawyers have returned
from the US equipped with a number of les
sons, and warnings, for Australian organisa
tions as they face the impending introduction
of new collective bargaining laws.
Chris Gardner, a partner from Freehills,
Melbourne barrister Stuart Wood and Henry
Skene, a partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler, made
the journey in order to learn as much as possi
ble about the US’s Collective Bargaining Sys
tem – bargaining laws that have been in place
since 1935.
One parallel we can expect, said Gardner,
would be the higher level of regulation spawn
ing the call for more sophistication by the bar
gaining participants – largely because there’s
more up for scrutiny by the regulator.
“There are more pitfalls, but there are also
opportunities,” said Gardner. “It’s going to lead
to a higher level of sophistication. What that, in
turn, dictates, is a greater level of investment in
an enterprise bargaining process, than we’re
perhaps currently seeing in Australia today.”
