The Workplace Relations Act 1996 has provided accessible, timely and effective remedies against 'unprotected' (ie unlawful) industrial action outside the legitimate enterprise bargaining process. Since the advent of the Act, the Industry has not experienced the debilitating effects of national industrial action that occurred prior to the mid 1990's.

However, the new legislation does not fully explain why the level of disputation in the past 5 years has been at historical lows, particularly given the relentless change undergone by the industry in recent years. ASA believes that the pleasing results can be attributed to the cooperative manner in which the parties have addressed and embraced the need for industry reform as well as the changed legal landscape.

Industrial peace in Australian shipping

Australian shipping is now virtually free of industrial disputation. In 1982, when statistics on the number of ship days lost through shipboard industrial disputes as a proportion of total ship days available began being collected, 4% of ship days were lost. Most notably, 1982 was the year before shipping reform began to be implemented.

In 1997, the year the industrial issue which was regarded as the most sensitive industrial issue of all - the removal of the Seamen's Engagement System - began to be negotiated, the lowest incidence of industrial disruption was recorded.

Year	Ship days lost	Ship days available	% days lost
1982	1,593	39,240	4.1
1983	154	37,440	0.4
1984	38	39,240	0.09
1985	53	39,240	0.14
1986	73	36,000	0.2
1987	119	35,000	0.34
1988	72	33,480	0.21
1989	48	33,840	0.14
1990	28	33,480	0.08
1991	38	33,120	0.11
1992	50	32,400	0.15
1993	23	32,400	0.07
1994	63	32,400	0.19
1995	103	30,600	0.34
1996	42	28,440	0.15
1997	10.54	22,860	0.05

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