전력산업의 구조개편과 고용관계의 변화: 호주 빅토리아주와 뉴사우스웨일즈주의 비교

Abstract

Since 1990, the electricity industry in Australia has been in the process of restructuring. The States of Victoria and New South Wales have taken different approaches with regard to restructuring generation plants. In Victoria, the industry has been disaggregated and privatized, while New South Wales government has also fragmented the generating industry but has not privatized it. In Victoria the four major electricity generating companies have been sold to multinational consortiums, whereas in New South Wales, ownership remains in the hands of the State Government.

Despite the different ownership regimes, generating companies in the two States have become subject to competitive pressures. The restructuring has depoliticized the industry. Such development has major implications for management, workforce and unions in these companies.

This paper looks at the impacts and consequences of the different approaches to restructuring the industry for employment relations by comparing the recent experiences in the two States. One of the outstanding impacts of restructuring the electricity industry has been massive cuts in employment. The paper, however, reveals that the privatization route taken by the Victorian government has resulted in greater employment reductions in comparison with the level of employment losses in New South Wales. It draws attention to the fact that in Victoria employment losses before the sales of assets were far greater than those after privatization. Some features of changes in work organization and industrial relations are analyzed.