Employment Relations in Australia
Introduction
Traditionally Australia has had government involvement in employment relations through laws governing terms and conditions of employment such as Work Choices and Fair Work Act. Australian workers have in general worked under “Awards” which set out minimum conditions for employment. The last few years have seen almost constant change in the nature of the Australian workforce and the regulations with the introduction of new legislation, and disagreement over the extent to which the state should be involved in the modern Australia workplace, ranging from the extremes of strict government control in employment relations or the government taking no part and leaving negotiations entirely to employer and employees. This essay will critically analyse the advantage and disadvantage of state involvement in employee relations and finally leads to the discussion and conclusion of how to balance worker and employer’s interest in the extent to which government should be involved. There are three sections covered in the essay, firstly beginning with the framework of Government Issue and the central issue appear in employee relations, secondly describing the benefit of the state involvement in resolving the problems in employer and employee relations, and finally the alleged disadvantages of state involvement.
Industrial relations in modern Australia have been facing a number of challenges. The traditional conflict has been between wages and work conditions for employees versus the demands of management. This conflict revolves around the distribution of national income and productivity gains in the economy. With major changes in the regulatory framework, important factors in Australian employment relations in recent years have been the extent to which trade unions protect worker’s rights and how much should be left to the individual employee. Southerland and Riley (2010) noted the Work Choices Act and Fair Work Act have been enacted to clarify the extent of
Traditionally Australia has had government involvement in employment relations through laws governing terms and conditions of employment such as Work Choices and Fair Work Act. Australian workers have in general worked under “Awards” which set out minimum conditions for employment. The last few years have seen almost constant change in the nature of the Australian workforce and the regulations with the introduction of new legislation, and disagreement over the extent to which the state should be involved in the modern Australia workplace, ranging from the extremes of strict government control in employment relations or the government taking no part and leaving negotiations entirely to employer and employees. This essay will critically analyse the advantage and disadvantage of state involvement in employee relations and finally leads to the discussion and conclusion of how to balance worker and employer’s interest in the extent to which government should be involved. There are three sections covered in the essay, firstly beginning with the framework of Government Issue and the central issue appear in employee relations, secondly describing the benefit of the state involvement in resolving the problems in employer and employee relations, and finally the alleged disadvantages of state involvement.
Industrial relations in modern Australia have been facing a number of challenges. The traditional conflict has been between wages and work conditions for employees versus the demands of management. This conflict revolves around the distribution of national income and productivity gains in the economy. With major changes in the regulatory framework, important factors in Australian employment relations in recent years have been the extent to which trade unions protect worker’s rights and how much should be left to the individual employee. Southerland and Riley (2010) noted the Work Choices Act and Fair Work Act have been enacted to clarify the extent of