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Paul Dibley-Maher Thesis (PDF 1MB) Friend or Foe? The Impact of the Hawke/Keating Neoliberal Reforms on Australian Workers and the Australian Public Sector Paul Dibley-Maher Bachelor of Arts (ANU) Master of Legal Studies (ANU) Research Students Centre Division of Research and Commercialisation Queensland University of Technology Thesis submitted to fulfil the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Research) 2012 i Key Words Prices and Income Accord, capital, capitalism, class, deregulation, economy, Global Financial Crisis (GFC), Keynesianism, labour, Marxism, Marxist, neoliberal, neoliberalism, privatisation, public sector, reform, unions. ii Abstract Over the last three decades neoliberalism has transitioned from occupying the margins of economic policy debate to becoming the dominant approach by governments and their economic advisers, a process that has accelerated with the collapse of the former Stalinist states in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. This thesis adopts a Marxist framework for understanding this process, beginning as it did in the realm of relatively abstract philosophical and ideological debate to the permeation of neoliberal values throughout all capitalist institutions, including the state bureaucracy. This necessarily means a focus on the dialectical relationship between the rise of neoliberalism and the shifting balance of class forces that accompanied the success of the neoliberal project in transforming the dominant economic policy paradigm. The extent to which neoliberal reforms impacted on workers and public sector institutions, along with the success or otherwise of traditional working class institutions in defending the material interests of workers will therefore be a recurring theme throughout this body of work. The evidence borne from this research and analysis suggests a major shift in the dialectic of class struggle in favour of the power of capital over labour during the period covered, with the neoliberal age being one of defeat for a labour movement that largely failed to adopt successful strategies for defending itself. iii Table of Contents Key Words ......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iii List of Tables and Figures................................................................................................. vi Glossary of Terms ............................................................................................................ vii Statement of Original Authorship ................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... ix Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1: The Battle of Ideas ......................................................................................... 11 The Historical and Philosophical Context .................................................... 15 The Cold War and Rational Theory .............................................................. 17 Hayek and the Mont Pelerin Society ............................................................ 19 A Marxist Response ...................................................................................... 24 Friedman’s Intervention ................................................................................ 27 Keynesianism’s ‘Grand Failure’ ................................................................... 29 Neoliberalism Arrives ................................................................................... 32 Chapter 2: Neoliberalism on the World Stage ................................................................ 35 Third World Origins ..................................................................................... 36 The Thatcher Revolution .............................................................................. 39 Taking on the Unions .................................................................................... 40 The Miners’ Strike ........................................................................................ 42 Murdoch and the Print Workers .................................................................... 43 Privatisation .................................................................................................. 45 Welfare Meets the Market ............................................................................ 46 Reaganomics ................................................................................................. 49 Reagan and Organised Labour ...................................................................... 52 Neoliberalism and the Third World .............................................................. 55 Latin America ............................................................................................... 56 Victory to Neoliberalsim? ............................................................................. 58 Chapter 3: Neoliberalism Comes to Australia ............................................................... 60 The Keynesian Consensus in Australia......................................................... 63 The Collapse of the Keynesian Consensus ................................................... 64 The Industrial Relations Landscape .............................................................. 67 Disciplining the Unions ................................................................................ 69 The Uneasy Truce ......................................................................................... 71 Economic Reform ......................................................................................... 73 The Impact on Wages ................................................................................... 79 Wage Fixing Mechanisms ............................................................................. 83 Chapter 4: Neoliberalism and the Australian Public Sector .......................................... 87 The Traditional Public Service ..................................................................... 88 The APS and the end of Keynesianism......................................................... 89 Labor Takes Power ....................................................................................... 91 iv New Public Management .......................................................................................... 93 Working Conditions Under the NPM ....................................................................... 96 NPM and the Public Sector Unions ........................................................................ 101 Wages ...................................................................................................................... 102 Agency Bargaining.................................................................................................. 104 Privatisation ............................................................................................................ 109 Impact of Reforms on Union Density ..................................................................... 111 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 113 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 119 Primary Sources ...................................................................................................... 119 Secondary Sources .................................................................................................. 126 v List of Tables and Figures Tables Table 1: Trade Union Membership in Britain 1979-1990 .............................................. 41 Table 2: Trade Union Membership in the US 1981-1989 .............................................. 53 Table 3: Percentage of Men & Women in the Labour Force ......................................... 82 Table 4: Gini Coefficient & Theil Index for Private Sector 1983-1993 ......................... 82 Table 5: Gini Coefficient & Theil Index for Public Sector 1983 - 1993 ...................... 108 Table 6: Union Density in the Commonwealth Public Sector ...................................... 111 Figures Figure 1: Gini Coefficient for Great Britain 1979 – 2005/2006 ..................................... 48 Figure 2: Gini Coefficient for the United States 1947 - 1998......................................... 54 Figure 3: Unemployment Rate 1966 - 2008 ................................................................... 65 Figure 4: Inflation Over the Long Run 1966-1991 ......................................................... 66 Figure 5: Manufacturing & Agricultural Tariffs 1970 -71 to 2006-07 ........................... 75 Figure 6: Profits Share of National Income .................................................................... 79 Figure 7: Wages Share of National Income .................................................................... 80 Figure 8: Men Aged 18-64 in Gross Personal Income Quintiles .................................... 81 Figure 9: Women Aged 18-64 in Gross Personal Income Quintiles ............................... 81 Figure 10: APS Pay Increases 1996 -2009 ...................................................................
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