The Industrial Tribunals and Wage Determination in the Australian Iron and Steel Industry, 1921–38

It is believed in some quarters that the system of federal and state industrial tribunals in Australia has exercised a considerable impact on the determination of wages in Australia, making the average level of nominal wages more inflexible and wage differentials more equal in the interwar period. The purpose of this paper is to identify, through cross-country comparisons, the impact that the industrial tribunals had on the iron and steel industry labour market, an industry that played a crucial role in Australia's industrial development during the 1920s and 1930s.