Industrial Relations in the United Kingdom
Discuss About The Enforceable Undertakings A Strategic Labour.
Management of industrial relations is a multifaceted area that involves various players and regulations. Various countries have their own government and legal regulation that control inter-organizational and interpersonal relations. The IR can be explored based on various aspects such as legal framework, associations, regulations and dispute resolutions. In analyzing the IR United Kingdom and Australian IR can be compared based on elements and employment issues. Clear differences can be observed between the IR of UK and Australia with clear similarities also visible. The UK’s approach to IR is generally traditional belief on non-government interference as compared to full government intervention in case of Australian IR. One visible similarity is the regulatory and legislative framework within both countries’ IR. The following paper gives an overview of United Kingdom’s industrial relation comparing and contrasting both counties’ IR.
The industrial relation of the United Kingdom has been of significance in relation to employment. The overview of industrial relations of the United Kingdom is characterized by a number of components. These components can be categorized into approach, legislation, unions and associations, dispute resolution and representation.
The traditional view of industrial relations is based on minimal government interference and voluntary relations between various social partners in the employment sector. The IR of UK has limited government intervention except under dispute resolutions and where government employees are in disagreement. This is based on the need for the sector players to develop their own relations. The approach serves to better the relationship between various players through agreements and confines of the employment laws (Department for Business, Skills and Innovation 2012).
The industrial relations of UK have various legislations that manage the industrial relations. These legislations have resulted in the development of trade unions that mainly protect and safeguard employment relations. Examples of these legislations are the Trade Union Act, Conspiracy, and Protection of Property Act, Trade Disputes Act. These acts regulate the different social relations such as trade union formation and operations, trade disputes and property protection. In addition, the country uses these legislations to monitors the operations of various players to ensure that the government has no direct intervention in the IR sector (Simon 2014, p. 7).
The industrial relations of UK is also characterized with various trade unions that are formed by members from various sectors of the economy. Some of these trade unions include UK Trades Union Congress (TUC), Labour Party and Trade Movements. These trade unions draw members from various organizations and industries throughout the country. The IR is characterized by other different players and these players are Employers’ organizations. Trade unions membership is drawn from various occupations such as teachers, companies, and industries. The employer’s organizations are an organization that is mostly drawn from the private sector and are from various companies and industries within different sectors of the economy (Sasse 2016).
Legislation in the United Kingdom
The IR has other issues such as collective bargaining, collective agreement, and industrial dispute. IR is characterized by collective bargaining where employers and employees agree on common payment level for employees. The collective agreement, on the other hand, is majorly agreements between various players within the employment sector of the country. Industrial disputes are the disagreement between key players within the employment sectors over employment-related issues such as payment and working conditions. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) are tasked with the mandate to arbitrate in any conflicts that may arise between parties within the workplace (Stewart 2009).
UK IR is characterized by a representation that cut across the workplace, board level and European level. The workplace representation is the membership representation within unions where employees have the common interest of right protection. The second level of representation is a board where ordinary employees have no right to representation. The third level of representation is at the European Union level where members of the company workforce elect a representative for European Union. The last level of representation is Health and Safety representation where workers appoint safety representative to negotiate with employers (Howe & Tess 2012, page 11).
The last aspect of the IR of UK is the employee rights that mainly touch on the right and right protection of an employee. There are many different ways that the rights of employees are protected. One way is through the provision of the legislation and health and safety right as stipulated under UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Employees have right to good payment according to their competency or qualifications. These rights are protected by the through trade unions that serve to advocate for workers rights. Within the right protection framework, the sector has legislation that covers both leaves and fair payment at the workplace. Health and safety rights, on the other hand, consider employee safety at workplace and their health. These rights are negotiated by company representative and employers (Sloan 2016).
Australia industrial relations can be divided into three main aspects and these are a legislative framework, industrial instruments, and regulatory authorities. Firstly, the legislative framework is composed of various laws that regulate the industrial relations within the country. Some of these laws include Fair Work Act, Long Service Leave Acts, and Anti Discriminatory legislation. These laws have a framework that ranges from federal level to state level and is also regulated both at federal and state level. Secondly, industrial instruments are composed of various industrial relation common laws, agreements, modern awards and national employment standards. Thirdly, the regulatory authorities are bodies that regulate the industrial relations within the country. For instance, Fair Work Commission, human right commission, Fair Work Ombudsman, state tribunals and state safety regulations. In addition, there are many different trade unions and employer associations that are also part of the Australia employment relations (Gollan 2009).
Trade Unions and Employers’ Organizations in the United Kingdom
There are many similarities between the industrial relations of UK and Australia. Australia and UK share many things in common and some of these can be seen in industrial relations of these countries. Firstly, the Australian IR has legislations such as Fair Work Amendment Act 2015 and Fair Work Act 2009. This is similar to those of UK that also include legislation such as Trade Union Act, Conspiracy, and Protection of Property Act and Trade Disputes Act. These legislations work to constitute trade unions and protect rights of employees in the workplace (Office for National Statistics 2009).
Secondly, both Australia and UK have trade unions that are also formed following legislation that permits such unions. Australia, for instance, has trade unions functions to fight for the right of members. Similarly, the UK’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) brings members from nearly all sectors and serves to fight for rights of members of this union. In addition, in both countries, trade unions help members by coming up with collective bargaining agreement for members and also sign collective agreements with the government in case of pay issues. Australian employees association serves the same function as the employer’s unions of UK. Both countries’ IR has various employer associations that bring together industries and companies that employ citizens (Office for National Statistics 2010).
The industrial relations between Australia and UK have some differences that can be observed. Firstly, dispute resolution within the Australia industrial relations is mainly headed by either federal tribunal court or the state tribunal (Lam & Lau 2012, pp 4265–4282). This is different with the case of regulation in UK where the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) is the main arbitrator in case of dispute in the workplace. According to Fair Work Ombudsman 2018, in Australia disputes are solve or settle within various court systems either at the state level or at the federal level.
Secondly, the IR of United Kingdom is characterized with traditional noninterference with the relationship between parties within the workplace. This contrast the case in Australia where the workplace is mainly regulated by the government hence a high degree of intervention. UK industrial relation is mainly based on volunteering social relation between key players as compared to Australia where the government sets the regulation that manages the industrial relations. In case of dispute, the Australia tribunal court is mandated to come in and solve the issues either at state level or at the federal level. In addition, the government involvement in the management of IR of the two countries differs with Australia showing direct involvement as compared to the government of UK (Administrative Review Council 2008).
Dispute Resolution and Representation in the United Kingdom
The Australian government has various labor laws that protect the local workers from imported labors as compared to the UK. The UK is not protectionist that protects the local labor market from cheap immigrants coming into the country to employment. This is contrary to the government of Australia that has enacted some laws that shield the local employment form external labor force. For instance, the main threat was Asians that are seen as a threat to both labor market and trade unions. The government, therefore, has laws that protect the country from immigrants (Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Legislation Committee 2009).
The representation within the IR of UK has a wider scope with the European Union representation being a key determinant of the labor legislation within the country. The EU has influence right of employee especially on working condition and terms of employment. For instance, the legislation of UK has incorporated working time, a right to urgent family leave, and right to parental leave. This is not the case with Australia since the country has no membership in such external regional body that determines IR of the country. Moreover, Australia government in collaboration with local IR players enact laws and rights that regulate the sector. The fair work commission of Australia is the highest regulatory authority that regulates the industrial relations of the country. The representation in Australia is mainly at two different level and these are federal and state level of the government (Howe & Tess 2012, page 11).
The organizational difference in terms of an organization that forms part of the industrial relations environment can also be considered. Firstly, the Australian IR is characterized by three main organizations and these are Fair Work Commission, Fair Work Ombudsman and Registered Organizations Commission. These organizations, for instance, Fir Work Ombudsman is involved in dispute resolution while Registered Organizations Commission regulates various registered organizations within the industrial relations. This is different from the organizations that operate within the UK’s IR. Some of the organization includes Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) and Low Pay Commission (LPC) (Senate Standing Committee on Education, Employment and Workplace Relations 2009).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the industrial relations management play an important role in management and regulation of employment relations and conditions of employment within the country. The United Kingdom as a country has various elements of the industrial relations that can be categorized into legislation, associations, representations, general approach and employee rights. In comparison between the IR of United Kingdom and the Australia IR show both similarities and differences. Some of the similarities include regulations, associations, and unions which can be observed between the IR of UK and Australia. Differences include a representation that is only in the UK, variations in terms of labour laws and traditional non-government intervention in the UK as compared to protectionist in Australia. In both United Kingdom and Australia management of industrial relations has an impact on the labour market.
References
Administrative Review Council, (May 2008) The Coercive Information-Gathering Powers of Government Agencies, Report no. 48.
Department for Business, Skills, and Innovation (BIS) (2012) Trade Union Membership 2011, Nikki Brownlie. https://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/employment-matters/docs/t/12-p77-trade union-membership-2011.pdf
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Gollan, P. J. (2009) Australian industrial relations reform in perspective: Beyond Work Choices and future prospects under the. Fair Work Act 2009 Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol.43, no. 3
Howe, J. & Tess, H. (2012) The Use of Enforceable Undertakings as a Strategic Labour Law Compliance Strategy, Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law, University of Melbourne (draft unpublished 2012), page 11.
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Sloan, J. (2016) Enterprise bargaining set to boldly go way of the dodo’ The Australian Available at https://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/judith-sloan/ enterprise-bargaining-set-to-boldly-go-way-of-the-dodo/news-story/0d843ce38 0ebb98ba8eb159338056da9 [accessed on 27 August 2016]
Senate Employment, Workplace Relations, and Education Legislation Committee (2009) Fair Work Bill 2008 (Provisions), 27 February. Canberra: SEWRELC.
Senate Standing Committee on Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (2009) Public Hearing on the FairWork Bill 2009, Sydney, 18 February. Canberra: SSCEEWR.
Stewart, A. (2009) Bill should include a drop-dead date for old IR instruments. Workplace Express, 14 April. Australian IR reform: Fair Work Act 2009 269
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