Legal obstacles and possibilities for environmental bargaining in Australia
Abstract
Informed by an emerging discourse in environmental labour studies, this article investigates the legality of environmental bargaining in Australia. It demonstrates that existing enterprise bargaining law mostly prevents meaningful and enforceable bargaining regarding environmental issues. Proposed here instead is that more impactful possibilities for environmental bargaining exist under state Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws. In this respect, the article engages with some of the latest legal developments within the field of WHS that may enable environmental bargaining on the terms recommended by the environmental labour studies literature. It nevertheless acknowledges that such proposals may generate additional regulatory and resource burdens on regulators and workers alike. Accordingly, it concludes by canvasing a range of alternative regulatory arrangements rendering environmental bargaining more fair and effective.
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Biographies
Eugene Schofield-Georgeson is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, Faculty of Law. He teaches and researches in the field of labour law.
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Article first published online: April 10, 2023
Issue published: June 2023
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