Issues in Industrial Conflict: Australian Experience, 1913-1963

A STUDY of the issues involved in industrial conflict is important for two main reasons; first, it extends our knowledge of industrial relations, and second, it may thereby contribute to their improvement. In this connection it is suggested that policy needs to be concerned more with the amelioration of the conditions in industry as well as in the wider society from which conflict stems, rather than with the prohibition of any par-ticular manifestation of it. A thorough analysis of all the available relevant information is an obvious starting point. At the outset, the concept of industrial conflict for purposes of this inquiry must be clarified. The term is used here in the commonly accepted sense of open conflict in industry, namely strikes and lockouts. Fortunately the official statistics provide a good deal of useful direct information relating to the &dquo;causes&dquo; of strikes and lockouts for industry generally since 1913, as well as for coal mining, stevedoring, and other industries since 1951. However, before proceeding to analyse these data, some of their limitations should be noted