The Nascent Revival of Multi-Employer Collective Bargaining in Liberal Market Economies скачать в хорошем качестве

The Nascent Revival of Multi-Employer Collective Bargaining in Liberal Market Economies

CRIMT is pleased to share the video of its recent hybrid seminar, which took place on Tuesday, December 2 2025. On that occasion, Chris F. Wright, Professor at the University of Sydney, delivered a presentation entitled: The Nascent Revival of Multi-Employer Collective Bargaining in Liberal Market Economies. Lessons for Canada. During his talk, Professor Wright examined the influential claim that industrial relations systems have followed a common neoliberal trajectory marked by expanding employer power. He showed how this dynamic has been especially evident in liberal market economies, where union legitimacy is relatively weak and the institutional foundations of collective bargaining are fragile. He also highlighted a recent shift: several liberal market economies with decentralised bargaining systems — including Australia, Chile, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom — have taken steps to support multi-employer bargaining. Drawing on power resource theory and political science research on ideational power, the presentation explained the emergence of this trend and analysed how progressive governments and unions have built successful campaigns to strengthen collective bargaining and workers’ collective power. Focusing in particular on recent reforms in Australia, Professor Wright identified key political and institutional factors that enable worker-protective reforms — insights that offer valuable lessons for Canada and other jurisdictions.