Geophysical Observations of Taliks Below Drained Lake Basins on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska

Lakes and drained lake basins (DLBs) together cover up to ∼80% of the western Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska. The formation and drainage of lakes in this continuous permafrost region drive spatial and temporal landscape dynamics. Postdrainage processes including vegetation succession and permafrost aggradation have implications for hydrology, carbon cycling, and landscape evolution. Here, we used surface nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and transient electromagnetic (TEM) measurements in conjunction with thermal modeling to investigate permafrost aggradation beneath eight DLBs on the western Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska. We also surveyed two primary surface sites that served as nonlake affected control sites. Approximate timing of lake drainage was estimated based on historical aerial imagery. We interpreted the presence of taliks based on either unfrozen water estimated with surface NMR and/or TEM resistivities in DLBs compared to measurements on primary surface sites and borehole resistivity logs. Our results show evidence of taliks below several DLBs that drained before and after 1949 (oldest imagery). We observed depths to the top of taliks between 9 and 45 m. Thermal modeling and geophysical observations agree about the presence and extent of taliks at sites that drained after 1949. Lake drainage events will likely become more frequent in the future due to climate change and our modeling results suggest that warmer and wetter conditions will limit permafrost aggradation in DLBs. Our observations provide useful information to predict future evolution of permafrost in DLBs and its implications for the water and carbon cycles in the Arctic

Embedding workplace collaboration: good faith bargaining

This paper argues that Australia needs greater clarity on how good faith bargaining should be approached and that we need an Australian model of good faith bargaining that meets our current needs and imperatives. It is the second in the series of BCA discussion papers on how to improve workplace collaboration under the new Fair Work Act. The paper comprises a paper written by Professor Breen Creighton together with an executive summary by the BCA

Strike ballots and the law in comparative perspective

The articles which comprise this special issue of the Journal were originally presented at a Strike Ballots Workshop held at the University of Sydney in August 2015. The idea for the workshop originated in an ARC-funded project on the operation of the protected industrial action ballot provisions in Div 8 of Part 3-3 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) which we are currently undertaking together with Richard Johnstone from Queensland University of Technology and Catrina Denvir from Sydney University (Ballots Project). The Ballots Project consists of two principal elements: first, a quantitative review of all applications for protected industrial action ballot orders (PABO) for the period 1 July 2015-30 June 2016; and second, a qualitative study of a sample of total applications for that period. The purpose of the second element is to try to obtain a deeper understanding of the ways in which the ballot provisions operate in practice, and in particular of their impact upon the attitudes and behaviours of participants in the bargaining process. This phase of the Project includes conducting interviews with representatives of ballot applicants and employer respondents, and also with key stakeholders such as representatives of worker and employer organisations. Consideration of the substantive content of Div 8, and the contentious circumstances in which the provisions now set out therein were originally introduced, inevitably raises questions as to the approach to this issue which has been adopted in other jurisdictions - especially those where workers who organise or participate in industrial action would, in the absence of some form of legislative protection, be exposed to legal penalty for doing so

Defining Industrial Action

Unions engaged in enterprise bargaining under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (‘FW Act’) frequently exhibit considerable creativity in the forms of industrial action they take in order to pressurise employers to make concessions in bargaining. Examples of such conduct can include sending emails with the Caps Lock function turned on, wearing union campaign clothing or insignia whilst at work, and communicating with clients and customers of the target employer about the employees’ industrial campaign. This creativity is pushing the definition of ‘industrial action’ in s 19 of the FW Act to its outer limits. This is important due to the fact that many aspects of the bargaining regime established under the FW Act turn upon whether particular conduct falls within the statutory definition. These include provisions concerning the lawfulness or otherwise of industrial action; access to orders to stop or prevent unprotected industrial action; payment of wages for periods when employees are engaging in industrial action; and employers’ capacity to stand down employees without pay where they cannot usefully be employed because of industrial action which does not involve the employer or its employees. This article traces the current definition back to its origins in the system of conciliation and arbitration that operated in Australia throughout most of the 20th century. That system treated all industrial action as unlawful at statute and/or common law. The definition has not been significantly changed since the replacement of that system by one based on enterprise based bargaining, accompanied by limited recognition of the capacity lawfully to take industrial action in the course of such bargaining. Reviewing the current definition and its practical operation in its social, historical, and international context, the article concludes that the definition is not ‘fit for purposé, and proposes that it should be revised in order better to accord with the purposes of the legislation and with the bargaining regime it establishes. </jats:p