Immigrant Workers, Trade Unions and Industrial Struggle: An Overview of the Australian Experience, 1945-85

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Abstract
One of the most remarkable features of the post-war long boom period was the phenomenon of mass immigration and the consequent ethnic diversification of the population and workforce of many countries. This phenomenon has provoked a large literature, entailing vigorous debates about the consequences of mass immigration in terms of class structure, politics and patterns of industrial behaviour and organization. This paper critically appraises this literature both at a conceptual and empirical level. In particular, it is concerned to see how some influential arguments developed in this literature accord with the Australian experience. In so doing an argument is developed about the key influences upon immigrant industrial behaviour, which highlights some contingent elements and challenges some of more 'universalistic' theories that have been developed.

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