Formalising relations between states and unions: The case of public transport in two Australian states

Successive governments, particularly in the Anglo-American world, have sought to redefine the state by redrawing the boundaries between the public and private sectors, with marked implications for trade unions. In Australia, governments have initiated comprehensive processes of corporatisation and privatisation. One consequence is that previously close and often informal partnership arrangements (in the case of Labor governments) have been formalised. The argument is that this type of institutional reorganisation opens up the possibility of renewed forms of collective organisation via a recollectivisation of union memberships. These themes are explored in relation to public transport in NSW and Victoria.