Two and Two Make Five: Industrial Relations and the Gentle Art of Doublethink

By Braham Dabscheck

George Orwell's notion of doublethink is used to examine three contemporary Australian industrial relations issues. The issues are the Cole Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry, bargaining fees and employee entitlements.

The Cole Royal Commission was an inquisition into the heresy of unionism. The decision of the full bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission on bargaining fees has found that collective bargaining does not pertain to the employer-employee relationship. This decision encourages free-riding to weaken unions. On the other hand, various employee entitlement schemes, developed by the Australian government, to meet obligations of companies to employees when the former collapse, enable, or encourage, companies to free-ride on the backs of taxpayers. The author sees a bleak future for unions. As Dabscheck quotes O'Brien from Orwell's book::

"power is power over human beings...above all over the mind... If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever."

(Economic and Labour and Relations Review, vol. 15, no. 2, January 2005; 181-95)