Breakaway Unions: an Australian Case

Abstract

This paper examines the concept of breakaway unions and places it within the Australian institutional context. The concept is then applied to a particular case involving power station operators, a group of which seceded from one union and merged with another while retaining their group autonomy. This somewhat novel approach to circumventing the constraints of registration under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act highlights the limitations of industrial style unions in representing a diverse membership.