Hunter Water, corporatisation and employment relations: a research agenda

Corporatisation seeks to transform the performance of government trading entities; a transformation which often relies on changing how work is performed and how management and labour interact. Hunter Water - as it is now known - was the first water utility in Australia to undergo corporatisation. Against the broader corporatisation literature, this paper reviews how, from the 1980s, Hunter Water’s operations were initially restructured around a commercialisation imperative and, then corporatised in 1992. The responses of the unions, including (shelved) privatisation plans are outlined. The case study highlights that more research is needed to record and analyse changes in employment relations which followed the utility’s corporatisation, especially, in terms of employment regulation, management strategy, the structure and coverage of unions and organisational performance.