Producers, Processors and Unions: The Meat Producers Board and Labour Relations in the New Zealand Meat Industry, 1952–1971

In New Zealand, the historical trend towards the rational-capitalistic transformation of agriculture was forestalled in part by producer boards, institutions that were intended to operate in the collective interests of farmers. Recently, there has been renewed interest both in the economic effects of the boards and in the role of farmers themselves within New Zealand's unique arbitral system of industrial relations. This paper bridges these areas of research by examining the influence of the Meat Producers Board on management–labour relations within the export meat industry. Whereas the Board is generally regarded as having empowered family-labour farmers, we argue that its interventions also empowered meatworkers and simultaneously weakened meat-processing companies as employers. The power resources indirectly supplied to meatworkers by the Board were an important external source of union power in the industry. By examining these resources, we identify the neglected effects of a key institution that shaped New Zealand's path of development by preventing the subsumption of 'independent' farming.     

政府放纵行为、制度建设与产业集群的发展

近几年来硅谷、新竹和意大利等地产业集群的成功引起了我国地方政府的注意,各地大搞圈地运动.为了吸引企业入住园区,政府竞相出台各种优惠政策,极力降低入园企业的准入门槛.本文认为,政府的这种"放纵行为"对产业集群发展的作用是有限的,而制度建设才是根本的保障.     

The Murupara Project and Industrial Development in New Zealand 1945–65

In New Zealand, after the Second World War, the share of manufacturing in GDP rose relative to the share of agriculture. Although the government lacked a clearly articulated industrial policy, it was increasingly drawn into the promotion and support of firms in manufacturing. The Murupara pulp and paper scheme was the most spectacular instance of state intervention in the first two postwar decades. Tasman, the company set up to operate the pulp and paper mill, was a joint venture between the state, a New Zealand construction firm called Fletchers, and British multinationals. Tasman soon became New Zealand's leading exporter of manufactured products. The need to secure the market for Tasman's newsprint exports was one of the main reasons for the negotiation of a partial free trade agreement between New Zealand and Australia in 1965. This article explains the early history of Murupara, and discusses its contribution to industrial development and diversification in New Zealand.     

The Transformation of Australia's Population, 1970–2030

Book reviewed
Siew-Ean Khoo and Peter McDonald, (eds), The Transformation of Australia's Population, 1970–2030. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2003. Pp. xi + 302, index. ISBN: 0868405027. Paperback $49.95. Reviewed by Glenn Withers Australian National University