Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T14:46:39.506Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What Enterprise? Whose Bargain? Politicians Face Their Principals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Glyn Davis  and
Margaret Gardner
Margaret Gardner
Affiliation:
Griffith University
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The introduction of enterprise bargaining poses a fascinating dilemma: with whom should politicians negotiate about their wages and conditions? The question has different implications for Labor and the Coalition. The form of enterprise bargaining proposed by the Government can accommodate current arrangements for MP salaries, though not without some special pleading. The more radical proposals of the Coalition, which emphasise a principal—agent relationship between employer and employee, pose greater challenges. This paper explores the dilemma of salaries for MPs under enterprise bargaining, and suggests a policy solution which ensures that politicians are subject to the rules they propose for others.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , December 1993 , pp. 279 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1993

References

Arrow, K.J. (1985). ‘The Economics of Agency’, in Pratt, J.W., Zeckhauser, R.J. (Eds.) Principals and Agents: the structure of business, Cambridge MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Boston, J. (1991). ‘The Theoretical Underpinnings of Public Sector Restructuring in New Zealand’, in Boston, J., Martin, J., Pallot, J., Walsh, P. (Eds.), Reshaping the State: New Zealand’s bureaucratic revolution, 1–26, Auckland: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brereton, L. (1993). ‘Federal Government Announces Major Industrial Relations Reform’, Media Release and attachments 21/93, 8 October.Google Scholar
Browning, A. R. (Ed.). (1989). House of Representatives Practice (2nd ed.), Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.Google Scholar
Catlin, G. (1950). A History of the Political Philosophers, London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Coalition, (1992). Jobsback! The Federal Coalition’s Industrial Relations Policy, Liberal/National Party Federal Coalition Policy Paper, October.Google Scholar
Crisp, L. F. (1978). Australian National Government, (4th ed.), Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.Google Scholar
Epstein, R.A. (1985). ‘Agency Costs, Employment Contracts, and Labor Unions’, in Pratt, J.W., Zeckhauser, R.J. (Eds.), Principals and Agents: the structure of Business, Cambridge MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Flanders, A. (1968). ‘Collective Bargaining: A theoretical analysis’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 6, 1, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, O. (1990). ‘An Economist’s Perspective on the Theory of the Firm’, in Williamson, O. E. (Ed.), Organization Theory: from Chester Barnard to the present and beyond, 154–171, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Henry, S. (1992). ‘Coalition Defends MPs’ Pay Rises’ The Australian 31 October, 4.Google Scholar
Holdich, R. (1989). ‘Fair Enough? Fixing salaries and allowances of Australian parliamentarians’, Canberra Bulletin of Public Administration, 59, 49–52.Google Scholar
Hood, C. (1992). ‘Looking After Number One? Politicians’ rewards and the economics of polities’, Political Studies, 40, 207–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, H. (1992). ‘Premier Admits He Was Wrong on Pay’, The Age, 2 November, 1.Google Scholar
McMullin, R. (1991). The Light on the Hill: the Australian Labor Party 1891–1991, Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Messina, A., Metherell, M. (1992) ‘Pay—Rise Push for Coalition MPs’, The Age, 31 October 3.Google Scholar
Perrow, C. (1986). ‘Economic Theories of Organization’, Theory and Society, 15, 6, 11–45.Google Scholar
Pratt, J.W., Zeckhauser, R.J. (1985) (Eds.) Principals and Agents: the structure of business, Cambridge MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Publick, C. J., Southey, R. J. (1980). Liberal Thinking, Melbourne: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Starr, G. (1978). ‘The Liberal Party of Australia’, in Starr, G., Richmond, K., Maddox, G. (Eds.), Political Parties in Australia, 11–101, Melbourne: Heinemann.Google Scholar