Professor Anthony Forsyth
Professor
Details
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College: Graduate School of Business & Law
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Department: Graduate School of Business & Law
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Campus: City Campus Australia
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anthony.forsyth@rmit.edu.au
Open to
- Media enquiries
- Masters Research or PhD student supervision
About
Anthony Forsyth teaches and researches all aspects of work and the law, specialising in collective bargaining, trade unions, union education, labour hire and the gig economy.
Anthony Forsyth is a Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University. His research focuses on collective bargaining, trade unions, union education, labour hire and the gig economy. He chaired the Victorian Government Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work (2015-16), and is the author of: The Future of Unions and Worker Representation: The Digital Picket Line (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2022). He also runs the Labour Law Down Under Blog.
At RMIT, Anthony has worked in senior leadership roles including Director of Juris Doctor Programs (2012-2015) and Head of Department, Law (2019-2022). In 2019-2020, Anthony oversaw the development and accreditation of the RMIT Bachelor of Laws and combined law/business degrees. He runs the RMIT Law Advisory Board and the Higinbotham Lecture Series.
Anthony is closely engaged with industry, working on research projects and research/education collaborations with partners including the United Workers Union and Australian Council of Trade Unions/Australian Trade Union Institute.
In November 2021, Anthony was elected as President of the Australian Labour Law Association. He is a Member of the Advisory Committee, Centre for Future Work (Australia Institute); and sits on the advisory boards of several Australian and international academic journals.
Industry experience:
<2000 - Prior to entering academia in 2000, extensive experience in the legal sector including at Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst); Norton Rose (London); Maurice Blackburn; & Transport Workers Union.
Awards:
2021:
College of Business and Law, Media Stars Top Performer Award
2020:
RMIT University Media Stars 'Hall of Fame' Award
2019:
College of Business and Law, Media Stars Top Performer Award
2018:
-RMIT University Award for Research Impact (Enterprise)
-RMIT College of Business Awards for Research Impact, Research Excellence - Journal Publication by an Academic, and Best Journal Publication (by School) by an Academic
Anthony Forsyth is a Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University. His research focuses on collective bargaining, trade unions, union education, labour hire and the gig economy. He chaired the Victorian Government Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work (2015-16), and is the author of: The Future of Unions and Worker Representation: The Digital Picket Line (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2022). He also runs the Labour Law Down Under Blog.
At RMIT, Anthony has worked in senior leadership roles including Director of Juris Doctor Programs (2012-2015) and Head of Department, Law (2019-2022). In 2019-2020, Anthony oversaw the development and accreditation of the RMIT Bachelor of Laws and combined law/business degrees. He runs the RMIT Law Advisory Board and the Higinbotham Lecture Series.
Anthony is closely engaged with industry, working on research projects and research/education collaborations with partners including the United Workers Union and Australian Council of Trade Unions/Australian Trade Union Institute.
In November 2021, Anthony was elected as President of the Australian Labour Law Association. He is a Member of the Advisory Committee, Centre for Future Work (Australia Institute); and sits on the advisory boards of several Australian and international academic journals.
Industry experience:
<2000 - Prior to entering academia in 2000, extensive experience in the legal sector including at Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst); Norton Rose (London); Maurice Blackburn; & Transport Workers Union.
Awards:
2021:
College of Business and Law, Media Stars Top Performer Award
2020:
RMIT University Media Stars 'Hall of Fame' Award
2019:
College of Business and Law, Media Stars Top Performer Award
2018:
-RMIT University Award for Research Impact (Enterprise)
-RMIT College of Business Awards for Research Impact, Research Excellence - Journal Publication by an Academic, and Best Journal Publication (by School) by an Academic
Non-academic positions
- External Consultant
- International Labour Office
- , Australia
- 2015 – 2021
- Consultant
- Corrs Chambers Westgarth
- Employment Labour & Safety Team
- , Australia
- 2005 – 2019
Supervisor projects
- At risk: young workers experience of collective bargaining in Australia
- 11 Jan 2024
- Reinvigorating Collective Bargaining in Australia: An Assessment of the Collapse of the Collective Bargaining System Under the Fair Work Act and Alternatives to the Existing System.
- 16 May 2023
- Human Rights Observance in South Sudan: A Recipe for Peace and Sustainable Development
- 11 Jun 2020
- Accountability of the Executive Branch of Australian Government: The Courts' Oversight of Officers of the Commonwealth
- 12 Apr 2016
Teaching interests
Supervisor interest areas:
-Any aspect of labour and employment law
Supervisor projects:
-External Controls and Regulation of the Internal Affairs of Australian Trade Unions - PhD student, Peter Punch
Programs:
-MC161 - Juris Doctor
(https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/law/law)
-BP335 - Bachelor of Laws)
(https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/law/law)
-Any aspect of labour and employment law
Supervisor projects:
-External Controls and Regulation of the Internal Affairs of Australian Trade Unions - PhD student, Peter Punch
Programs:
-MC161 - Juris Doctor
(https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/law/law)
-BP335 - Bachelor of Laws)
(https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/law/law)
Research interests
Anthony's research in labour and employment law traces the shifting legislative agendas of Coalition and Labor Governments in Australia and connects our national discourse on workplace regulation with international debates. In particular, he focuses on the legal framework for negotiation of wages and employment conditions through collective bargaining; the relationship between trade unions and the regulatory state in countries including Australia, USA, UK and Italy; and the impact on workers and unions of multilateral business models including labour hire, supply chains and the gig economy. He examines how society can ensure that innovative technologies produce equitable outcomes consistent with the social licence of responsible businesses, through evidence-based regulatory interventions and legal support for worker representation.
His work contributes to Australian and global labour law scholarship addressing the implications of digital platforms for workers’ rights to collective representation. Much of the academic research on platform work in the last decade has focused on the effects of gig economy companies in driving down employment conditions and reducing job security, by engaging workers as independent contractors rather than as employees. In addition to those dimensions, he examines how unions and self-organised worker groups have begun to successfully turn the technology used to exploit workers engaged via apps (including through algorithmic surveillance and performance targets), back onto the platforms. Smart-phones, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and other forms of ‘WorkerTech’ have become effective tools enabling workers to mobilise and organise protests, strikes and log-offs, occupying both the new ‘virtual space’ and the traditional terrain of workplace activism to contest their precarity.
Research keywords:
Labour law, Employment law, Workplace regulation, Collective bargaining, Trade unions, Labour hire, Gig economy, Union education
His work contributes to Australian and global labour law scholarship addressing the implications of digital platforms for workers’ rights to collective representation. Much of the academic research on platform work in the last decade has focused on the effects of gig economy companies in driving down employment conditions and reducing job security, by engaging workers as independent contractors rather than as employees. In addition to those dimensions, he examines how unions and self-organised worker groups have begun to successfully turn the technology used to exploit workers engaged via apps (including through algorithmic surveillance and performance targets), back onto the platforms. Smart-phones, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and other forms of ‘WorkerTech’ have become effective tools enabling workers to mobilise and organise protests, strikes and log-offs, occupying both the new ‘virtual space’ and the traditional terrain of workplace activism to contest their precarity.
Research keywords:
Labour law, Employment law, Workplace regulation, Collective bargaining, Trade unions, Labour hire, Gig economy, Union education
