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Call for Papers

The final decades of the twentieth century seemed all doom and gloom for organised labour but this appears to be giving way to a quiet optimism in the twenty first century. Throughout the 1990s, academics and practitioners argued for unions to make strategic and organisational changes. Some are, others are trying; not all will succeed. What lessons can we learn from these unions and their initiatives?

The Unions in the Twenty-First Century and Beyond Conference seeks to bring together academics, union officials and activists, and community representatives and activists to explore union strategies and behaviours in the context of the twenty-first century.

For this conference we invite national and international contributions which explore union strategies and behaviours in the context of the twenty-first century. In particular, we are interested in contributions that explore the opportunities that may open up for unions in the changing international political economy, in regard to environmental issues; politics; and education and skill-related matters. We welcome presentations around these themes from academics and union and community representatives.

Abstracts should be 750 words + reference list and should be in 12 font size, Times New Roman. Abstracts should indicate the substantive content of the paper, together with methodology, findings and conclusions. Please include the author and contact details on a separate page.

Abstracts should be submitted by 1 August 2008.  All abstracts will be blind refereed by two referees. Authors will be notified by late August of the outcome.

Abstracts should be submitted to:
Marjorie Jerrard, Department of Management,Monash University
Email: marjorie.jerrard@BusEco.monash.edu.au,

In addition to the Keynote speakers and paper presentations, there will be 3 panel sessions organised around the conference themes:

  • Unions and the Environment
  • Unions and Politics, and
  • Unions and Education and Skill

Each panel will include speakers drawn from unions and political and community organisations. Confirmed participating Australian unions are the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, the Electrical Trades Union and the National Tertiary Education Union. The Australian Council of Trade Unions is also participating. Others will be announced shortly.

We look forward to seeing you in Melbourne.

Dr Marjorie Jerrard
Conference Convenor on behalf of the Conference Organising Committee