How has globalization affected the Australian labor relations system? How have unions responded to the threats posed by globalization?

Australian unions have been organized mostly on a craft or occupational basis. Australian labor agreements were determined on the basis of arbitration awards whereby a federal or state arbitration commission would issue an award specifying minimum standards for pay and working conditions for an entire occupation. Unions typically had members in more than one industry and managers often had to deal with multiple unions. Unions were often able to negotiate better contract terms, individually, with an employer than the minimum that was provided as a result of the arbitration awards process. Since the advent of globalization, union density has declined and, in response, unions have actively pursued a merger strategy to form fewer, but larger, unions that are more general in their membership. The centralized awards system has been increasingly supplanted by decentralized, enterprise level bargaining.