Employment Relations Are Important in any Workplace - Coursework Example

Employment Relations Name of Student: Course Code: Instructors Name: Date of Submission: Employment Relations Employment relations are described as the study of the relationship in the employment place. There are various laws and policies that enforce legal and allowable engagements between the employer and the employee. The laws may vary from country to country. There are two main approaches to employment relations namely pluralist and Unitarist theories. According to the Unitarist approach, the employees are supposed to be answerable or should show allegiance to only one body; the management. In this approach, any allegiance shown to any other institutions such as a trade union is seen as a breach of the employment relationship (Ross & Bamber 2009, p.25). On the other hand, a pluralist approach is one which acknowledged that an organization is made up of several groups whose interests may differ from those of the management. Due to this reason, an employee is allowed to be involved in the activities of the various groups as long as the activities are under the industrial law (Ross & Bamber 2009, p.25). The following essay will use the neo institutionalist approach to analyze the various aspects of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) is an employment relations act which was set up in 2009 to govern the workplace relations in Australia. The key issues which are covered by the act includes laws on industrial actions, collective bargaining, resolution of disputes, net minimum wages and conditions of employment, termination of work engagement among other workplace related issues (Fair Work Australia Commission 2009a, p.1). The Fair Work Act 2009 is enforced by the Fair Work Commission. Before the enactment of the Fair Work 2009, employment relations in Australia, there were several legal acts and policies which governed national workplace relations. The earliest of them was the Common wealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 (Fair Work Australia Commission 2009b, p.1). The institution which governed this act was the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration. The main aspects of Common wealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act are the development of a minimum wage in 1907, the upholding of equal pay for men and women and also the indigenous people in the country in the periods between 1960 and 1970 and the establishment of various leaves for instance sick leave, maternity, paternity and annual leave in the period between 1960 and 1990 (Fair Work Australia Commission 2009b, p.1). The Common wealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act of 1904 developed over years changing names which the change of regimes to the modern Fair Work Act 2009. Some of the acts which have been established through this century long journey include the Fair Work Ombudsman, Australian Industrial Relations Systems and the Australian Registry Act (Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment 2012, p.2). Key to the developments of the acts is the need for a national employment relations legislation that would protect the employees and at the same time ensure that the employer’s needs were taken into consideration. The Fair Work Act adopts a neo-institutionalist / pluralist, approach to employee relations. The act acknowledges that the workplace is comprised of several functional groups all of which are geared towards the attainment of efficiency at the work place. The act is a development of Work Choices Legislation 2005 and was passed after the assumption of office by the Rudd government in 2007 (Barnes & Lafferty n.d., p.4). Previously, the employment relations acts were based on a Unitarist approach whereby the employees were answerable to the employing authority. However, focus has shifted from Unitarism to Pluralist approaches over the years of employment relations development (Ross & Bamber 2009, p.25). The following section will analyse some of the key elements of the Fair Work Act 2009 from the new institutionalist approach. One of the key elements of the Fair Work Act 2009 is the fair & comprehensive minimum allowable employment safety conditions (Australian Government 2009b, p.1). Under this aspect, Fair Work Act points out that there are several minimum allowable safety conditions which must be provided by the work place environment by the employer. The safety net is not negotiable. In addition to this, this element gives focus to the minimum wage which an employee is supposed to get from a given period of service. This is contrary to the previous acts which did not put emphasis on the enforcement of the minimum set conditions. Fair Work thus tends to establish a fair working environment for the employees. From this, it can be seen that the employee shows allegiance to the Fair Work Act and also to the employer; hence making the fair work approach a neo institutionalist approach. The second key element of the Fair Work Act 2009 is the enterprise collective bargaining (Australian Government 2009b, p.1). In this aspect, the Fair Work Act stresses out that the collective bargaining should be done in good faith, hence ensuring that parties do not propagate their ill motives in the name of collective bargaining. This clause of the act also brings the union movement into the context. In this, an employee is free to join a labour union. In addition to this, the labour union is mandated to bargain on behalf of the employees, hence bringing up the collective bargaining aspect of the act. From this, a pluralist approach can be seen in the sense that the employee shows allegiance to the trade unions in addition to the employers. Thirdly, the Fair work act provides for the Greenfields agreements (Australian Government 2009b, p.2). However, the Greenfields agreements must be scrutinised by the Fair Work Commission to ascertain that the elements covered in the agreement are in line with the interests of the majority of employees and the public. This shift from the employer as the sole authority is a pluralist approach to employment relations. Fourthly, the Fair Work Act provides bargaining assistance for the employees who are lowly paid or who were paid lowly in the past (Australian Government 2009b, p.3). In this approach, the employer has to interact with the Fair Work commission as well as the labour unions. Fifthly, the Fair Work Act 2009 gives guidelines on industrial actions. Under this act, the employees have a right to participate in a legal industrial action (Australian Government 2009b, p.4). On the other hand, the employer has a right to negotiate with the employees under the provisions of the act. Other elements of the Fair Work Act 2009 includes protection from unfair dismissal, balancing between family life and work, entry rights, right to representation at the workplace and the enforcement of the act in the private sector. From the above, it can be acknowledged that the Fair Work Act 2009 is a pluralist approach to labour relations. As pointed out earlier, in a pluralist approach, the employee shows allegiance to several sectional groups such as trade unions. In the evaluation of the several elements of the 2009 Act, it has been seen that the employee is not coerced to show allegiance to the employer only; thus getting a chance to ensure that his or her concerns are given appropriate consideration. Just as other acts, the Fair Work Act 2009 underwent some changes in 2012 in a bid to ensure that it provides fair conditions to all (McCrystal & Orchsiton 2013, p.321). Just as other acts, there are several advantages and disadvantages associated with the Fair Work Act 2009. The advantages of the act are as discussed below. One of the advantages is that the act gives employees a chance to bargain and also gives the employees protection from unfair bargaining acts. Under the act, the bargaining must be done in good faith; hence excluding instances of propagation of ill motives in employment relations (Taylor 2012, p.417). Secondly, the Fair Work Act is associated with a high degree of flexibility in that the employee and employer have the liberty to work at any time of their choice. In addition to this there are personal flexibility agreements which are beneficial to the employee (Wells 2010, p. 1 ). Thirdly, the act gives low paid workers a chance to bargain for a good pay. Fourthly, the act encourages productivity, cooperation and fairness via the enhancement of good faith driven collective bargaining (Australian Government 2013, p.1). The act ensures that there is an appropriate working environment that in turn translates to efficiency in the work place. The disadvantages of the act are that it does not provide construction workers with an amicable solution to the occupational safety concerns associated with them; secondly, the act does not provide a good employment relations policy for casual workers who are prone to exploitation by their employers (Australian Council of Trade Unions 2012, p.39). In conclusion, it can be seen from this essay that employment relations are important in any workplace. Therefore, there is a need to come up with an Act that not only protect the employees from exploitation but also protect the employers from unfair labour activities. The Fair Work Act 2009 is a national workplace relations act that strives at providing the employees and employers with a fair workplace. The act dates back to 1904 when the commonwealth act was established. From the development of the act, it has been acknowledged that there is a need to evaluate an act periodically so as to ensure that it is in line with the current labour concerns in the market. From the essay, it can be concluded that the Fair Work Act 2009 is a pluralist approach to employment relations since it takes into consideration the fact that the employee is not only answerable to the employing authority but also to other sectional groups. References Australian Government, 2013. Fair Work Ombudsman, Australian Government, pp.1-6 Australian Council of Trade Unions, 2012. The Fair Work Act; Two Years On, Australian Council of Trade Unions, pp. 1-47 Australian Government, 2009b. Australia’s Fair Work System, The Fair Work Act 2009 – An Overview, pp. 1-5 Barnes, A., & Lafferty, G., n.d. The Fair Work Act : As Good as It Gets, The Economic and Labour Relations Review, Vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 1-12 Fair Work Australia Commission 2009a. Fair Work Commission Retrieved on 2nd September 2013 from Fair Work Australia Commission 2009b. History, Retrieved on 2nd September 2013 from McCrystal & Orchsiton, 2013. Industrial legislation in Australia in 2012, Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol.55, no.3, pp.321–337 Office Of The Commissioner For Public Employment, 2012. An Overview Of The National Industrial Relations System And The Role Of The Office Of The Commissioner For Public Employment, Office Of The Commissioner For Public Employment, pp. 1-15 Ross, P., & Bamber, G., 2009. Strategic Choices in Pluralist and Unitarist Employment Relations Regimes: A Study of Australian Telecommunications, ILReview, Vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 24- 41 Taylor, B., 2012. All in good faith developments in good faith bargaining requirements under the Fair Work Act, Professional Updates Employment Law. pp.417- 423 Todd, P., 2013. Introduction: Australian Industrial Relations in 2012, Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol.55, no.3, pp.311–320 Wells, J., 2010. Flexible Work In 2010 – The Impact Of The Fair Work Act 2009 On Employer Control Of, And Employee Access To, Flexible Working Hours, pp. 1- 10 Read More