Equity or exclusion?: a case study of the workplace bargaining process

The impact of enterprise bargaining upon microeconomic and macroeconomic performance has been debated by proponents of both centralised and decentralised industrial relations systems. While arguments elucidating the merits of each can be found, the impact of enterprise bargaining upon women and minority groups is less ambiguous. Studies undertaken both in Australia and internationally suggest that decentralisation has the potential to lead to problems for equity. This paper undertakes an examination into the participation of women in the workplace bargaining process. A case study of a corporation in the maritime industry provides evidence of exclusion and inequity in the negotiation and outcomes of an enterprise agreement where a significant minority of the employees covered by the agreement are women employed in the clerical and service sectors. The paper considers the significance of the bargaining process by highlighting the power struggles, exclusion tactics, lack of communication and inequitable representation of women that are frequently neglected in the enterprise bargaining debate.