The Right to Strike in Australia

I received my copy of the The Right to Strike in Australia early this morning - almost hot of the press. What a splendid book. I sat down and read it from front to back. It was engaging, comprehensive and relevant. I am very impressed. - David Holmes - Industrial Officer - LHMU … Shae McCrystal’s The Right to Strike in Australia is an excellent contribution to current debates and provides a thorough and robust analysis of the law pertaining to industrial action throughout Australia in relation to our international obligations. The meticulous attention to detail does, however, confer a watertight quality on the work; when, at any moment the reader may think ‘but what about’, seemingly the author then answers the question brought to mind. … McCrystal’s exceptional piece of work … - Paul Doughty, Unions NSW_Labour History, November 2012 Dr Shae McCrystal has written an impressive and much-needed book on the right to strike in Australia. This she does by addressing the issue from historical, doctrinal and international perspectives, avoiding cod economics, sociology and/or politics in the process. It is legal scholarship at its very best. The doctrinal material in Chapters 6 and 7 especially strikes terror into the comparative lawyer, not only because of the ideological drive of the Coalititon under the Work Choices legislation, but also because of the sheer complexity of the framework adapted by the new legislation. This is laid out nicely and explained well. What comes across most powerfully in this part of the book is the sharp contrast between the legal rhetoric and the practical reality. There may be a right to strike rhetorically, but in practice Australia is a country where there is no right to strike save in exceptional circumstances. - Professor Keith Ewing, Kings College London - Journal of Industrial Relations

Shae McCrystal is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Sydney where she teaches labour law and property law. Shae joined the University of Sydney in 2007 after a number of years in the College of Law at the Australian National University. Her current research focuses primarily on the regulation of collective bargaining and strike action for both employees and independent contractors and she has published extensively in these areas. Shae is the Secretary of the Australian Labour Law Association and a case note editor for the Australian Journal of Labour Law.