Main Discussion
The employment relations usually deal with suggestions, recommendations, reformations, resolutions strategies in the workplace situations. In the following essay, the significance of employment relations in context to the Fair Work Commission of Australia has been discussed critically with proper illustrations. There are three components of employment relations namely unions or employees, employers or the management and the state. This essay deals with the role and responsibilities of the commission, critical analysis of the process of approval in context to Australian administrative system (Gaze & Smith, 2016). The Fair Work Commission (FWC) is the governing body that was established to settle certain types of conflict and disputes regarding industrial affair. This commission was appointed by the Governor General of Australia and the recommendations were given by the Australian Government.
Within a company the workplace issues between employees and employer are quite common and often such issues are handled with the help of a group (Latreille & Saundry). But the necessity of a mediator dealing only with the conflict issues are needed badly (Van Gramberg, Bamber, Teicher, & Cooper). Employment relations cater to this necessity within an organizational structure (Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 2013). Employment relations here imply the employer and employee’s dependency and their interrelatedness in both the formal and informal working situations. This connection evokes between management and employees in all sectors. Employee relations comprises of all the topics which is related to human resources management dealing with employees directly (Noon, Blyton, & Morrell, 2013). The employment relations are meant to settle down the workplace issues between employees, employer and staffs (Bamber, Lansbury, Wailes, & Wright, 2015). This critical procedure includes analysis of the crisis situation, proper investigation of complaints, and determining the healthy solutions by improving mutual adjustments, communication, knowledge and practices for acclamation within the human resources of the organization (Cummings & Worley, 2014). This also improves the motivational workforce, introduces incentive and reward programs, detects the way to minimize turnover (Kaufman & Taras, 2016).
The role of FWC is the best in maintaining Australian employment relations, and coping up with the changed situations within a company. The FWC makes a positive attempt to introduce the national system for controlling the employment relations in Australia. This corporation has easily influenced the roles of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in regard to various disputes and conflicts within the workplace. The role of FWC includes the following matters like-
Differentiate awards of various categories,
Give out particular regulations on wages,
Compute agreements and deals,
Regulate unfair dismissal proposals,
Endorse agreements,
Cooperate with the proprietor and workers to settle disputes,
Make regulations on negotiating with the healthy bargain issues and actions related to the industry,
Improvise the execution of conveying employment instruments in a transfer of business,
Discuss the issues emerging under common protection regulatory and illegal termination alternatives and so on.
The importance of FWC improvising the disputes and culture in working environments is noteworthy (Luck & Salter, 2016). This Commission maintains a balance between work and family, promotes discussion, analysis of situation and coordination in the workplace, shows the proper genuine instructions for young employees and employers, maintains the privacy in workplace, and executes the particular malleability dispositions for an individual, determines the employer’s guide to engage younger employees, gives special attention to gender pay values, manages the low competent or low skilled workers, offers productive dispute propositions, deals with parental leave issues, accelerates productivity in healthy working situations in bargaining and so on (Berg, 2015).
Employment Relations
The resignation of FWC’s Vice President Graeme Watson grabbed substantial media attraction. The content of VP Watson’s resign letter sent to the ministry of Australian Government is of prime importance in this context. In this letter he throws light on the various issues of the legal regulations of Australian workplace relations and the particular way it is regulated by the national tribunal. The ex VP has pointed out the flaws of FWC with broking the tradition. He described FWC as prejudiced, biased, sectarian, divided and non adaptive reacting to most of the affairs. He claimed his individual decision by rejecting the union claims for paid domestic violence leave in all awards. According to Mr. Watson this view to the crisis issue of domestic violence stretches the risk of excavating the level of trust within the workplace which may lead to unreliability and cost issues for the employers.
The current situation of enterprise bargaining emphasizes on the disadvantages and flaws emerging in workplace relations systems. This system is rapidly growing as turned against and controlled by the concerning authorities that finally restrain workers and employers. Through changing habits of Australian families and their decision to go for the working places, the use of digital media in workplaces basically shape up the modern trends of workplace relations systems. Enterprise bargaining affairs were introduced in 1990s with the endeavor of Hawke and Keating governments and it still remains the introductory milestone of workplace relations framework till recent days. The purpose of enterprise bargaining should aim at the various issues of employees, employers, and delegates coming under one roof and critically discuss the present scenario of the company, the beneficial and humanitarian policies that should be implemented to achieve the all round development and finally agreeing to a collective decision. This discussion includes wages and related conditions, managerial decisions of recruitment practices, organizational framework, mixing of varied employee categories and so on. In spite of all these beneficial roles Mr. Watson perceived that enterprise bargaining is turning invalid for working circumstances, they have become limited to enterprises. There are specific rules regarding enterprise bargaining process. These particular rules relate to voting, negotiation, issues that can be included in an enterprise agreement and the procedure of how these agreements can be approved by the FWC.
The enterprise agreement usually can be done among one or more employers and two or more employees with their chosen delegates. In Greenfields agreement where there are no employees employed, the employer bargains with one or more employee organizations of the union or state. While making an enterprise agreement, both the employer and employees need to include dispute resolution clause. Dispute resolution is a process through which conflicts are put to an end. FWC will not approve an enterprise agreement without this clause. To make an enterprise agreement the Fair Work Act, 2009 delivers a simple and flexible framework to help the employee and employers to negotiate and bargain in fair way.
For the proposed enterprise agreement the employers, employees and their bargaining representatives should be actively engaged in the process of bargaining. During the bargaining process an employer must inform the employees about the right to be represented by the bargaining employees, not later than 14 days after the notification time for agreement. Each of the employees should be informed with this notification. The employer dealing with Greenfields agreement must provide a written notice to each employee of the organization. After completing the bargaining process a draft enterprise agreement must be made and submitted to the employees. Before voting for the agreement during 7 days the employers are provided a copy of agreement. The employers must inform the employees about the time and place and the voting process elaborately. The employers have to take the full responsibility to make the employees understand the terms and impact of the agreement.
The role of FWC Work Commission employment relations
After the bargaining and process of making agreements are completed the next step is to approve the agreements by the FWC. The employer here should ensure that all the terms and impacts of agreement are being explained to the workers elaborately, and these should be illustrated in diverse manner for various age groups and employees coming from different economical, social background.
The maximum number of employees engaged must approve the agreement by voting and supporting for this. The employees must be informed about the agreement, the other materials or topics included in the agreement, the time, place and methods of voting by the employer. There can be three types of agreements like Single Enterprise Agreement, Multi Enterprise Agreement, and Greenfields Agreement.
Single enterprise agreement takes place when the maximum number of employees or each employer who cast vote to support the agreement, Multi enterprise agreement happens when the maximum number of employees of at least one of the employers cast valid vote to endorse the agreement. Greenfields agreement is an agreement that is signed by each employer and is also signed by the relevant employee organization that the agreement covers.
An EA (Enterprise Agreement) can be accepted as a tool to help employer to introduce efficiencies to its operations. Here this process must be approved by FWC by BOOT or Better off Overall Test under the proposed EA (Buchanan & Oliver, 2014). This process can help an employer to surpass some of the paperwork in return to greater financial return to the employee. The rules and regulations for all employees are fixed and also the pay increases are fixed.
The employer and employee are actually getting locked into EA system. This is difficult to offer incentives and reward particular employees in EA process. This can discourage the competencies outside EA. Once the approval is there, an employee cannot opt out of EA, even if they do not vote for it. The interest of the new employees hardly matters in this regard. The formal enterprise bargaining is barred for the period of EA. After the EA is approved, no further creativity or flexibility occurs outside EA.
The Woolworths Ltd group of companies initiated a subsidiary HP Distribution for the distribution of goods for 3 of their commercial units. HP distribution started an enterprise agreement with the SDA. The Commission approved the agreement as Greenfields agreement. The Commissions error was identified and contradicted by NUW. The appeal said the agreement did not meet the statutory criteria. But finally court was satisfied with the commercial aspects, activity, project and business and accepted that the distribution centre was innovative and distinguishes them from an existing enterprise. The Commission’s decision was upheld in this regard.
Conclusion
The area of employment relations in Australia needs to develop their policies. It should support their objective of global competitiveness and increasing productivity to ensure that Australia can maintain to enhance their standard of living (Jerrard & Le Queux, 2013). FWC is dedicated in developing the advanced process of determining the national industrial relations policy.
References
Bamber, G., Lansbury, R., Wailes, N., & Wright, C. (2015). International and Comparative Employment Relations: National Regulation, Global Changes. Allen & Unwin.
Berg, L. (2015). Migrant Rights at Work: Law’s Precariousness at the Intersection of Immigration and Labour. Routledge.
Buchanan, J., & Oliver, D. (2014). ‘Choice’and ‘fairness’: the hollow core in industrial relations policy. Australian public policy: Progressive ideas in the neoliberal ascendency , 97.
Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2014). Organization development and change. Cengage learning.
Gaze, B., & Smith, B. (2016). Equality and Discrimination Law in Australia: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press.
Jerrard, M., & Le Queux, S. (2013). Australian trade unions and international labour movements. Cambridge University Press.
Kaufman, B., & Taras, D. (2016). Nonunion employee representation: history, contemporary practice and policy. Routledge.
Latreille, P., & Saundry, R. Workplace mediation. In 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Conflict Management in Organizations.
Luck, K., & Salter, A. (2016). The restriction on legal representation before the Fair Work Commission: an end without means. Employment Law Bulletin.
Mowday, R., Porter, L., & Steers, R. (2013). Employee—organization linkages: The psychology of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover. Academic press.
Noon, M., Blyton, P., & Morrell, K. ( 2013). The realities of work: Experiencing work and employment in contemporary society. Palgrave Macmillan.
Van Gramberg, B., Bamber, G., Teicher, J., & Cooper, B. Conflict management in Australia. In 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Conflict Management in Organizations.
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