John O’Brien has worked at the University of Canberra and UNSW teaching industrial relations and human resource management. He has also worked as a union official and an educational administrator. His research has concentrated on public sector management and industrial relations, as well as within the education sector. He was an active unionist - in the NSW Teachers’ Federation, the Union of Australian College Academics and the National Tertiary Education Union. He has written a history of the Teachers’ Federation and co-authored a book on changes in work in the British Civil Service and the Australian Public Service. He is an Honorary Associate Professor in the Discipline of the Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney.
