Globalisation and industrial relations in the hunter region

Writers in the post-Fordist tradition have suggested that the challenges of globalisation have led to the widespread adoption of flexible specialisation in industrial regions such as the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. The paper examines this contention and asks a number of related questions about the repercussions of globalisation for regional labour markets and industrial relations. Globalisation as a concept is given some consideration and the Hunter region is defined as a distinct region for industrial relations purposes according to specified criteria. However, drawing on a range of data on restructuring in the region during the last decade, we reach the conclusion that most of the labour market and industrial relations transformation bas followed a neo-Fordist rather than a post-Fordist pattern.