Unions and Industrial Relations in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

When Papua New Guinea became independent in 1975, it inherited the Australian system of compulsory conciliation and arbitration from its former colonial rulers. This system with the cenrnal reality it ascribes to trade unions as the industrial representatives of workers has been under considerable anack in both Australia and New Zealand in recent years. In Papua New Guinea too its effectiveness has not gone unquestioned. This paper seeks first to provide some background to understanding the evolution of Papua New Guinea's industrial relations system and then looks in detail at some recent examples of its operation.