Regulating Outsourcing: The use of contractors on the central Queensland coalfields, 1974-2003

By Bradley Bowden

Examines attempts by central Queensland coalminers and their unions to regulate contracting out in the industry.

From 1974 to the early 1990s, the campaign was remarkably successful, resulting in the enforcement of the Maintenance and Minor Construction Agreement that tightly regulated employers' engagement of contractors. This success was largely due to the circumstances of place, as central Qld's relative isolation produced labour shortages favourable to such union campaigns. However, from 1996 these early achievements were largely lost as the power of market forces became more pervasive and immutable. He concludes that, as Hayakawa and Simard argue, "strong unions. .can successfully oppose policies such as outsourcing", they can only do so when local labour market and other place-embodied social relationships are favourable.

(Labour & Industry. vol. 14, no.1, August 2003)