Employment security in public services; a political and industrial contest over the institutionalization of employment security in the Queensland public service

Public sector employment security is a central tenet of the public service bargain in many countries to provide continuity beyond an electoral cycle and support frank and fearless advice. Employment security was often an implicit condition, diluted by rounds of public management reform and the global financial crisis (GFC), but retained in some form. Following reforms and downsizing in the 1990s in the Australian state of Queensland, unions redressed the implicit nature of employment security by institutionalizing it in formal policies, enforceable regulations, and collective agreements. The research focuses on policy changes under a government with a large electoral majority that was prepared to breach its electoral commitments, and the institutional arrangements in these employment policies and collective agreements. It highlights the power of government as both employer and legislator, and the potential fragility of the public service bargain when a government has the will to exercise that power.