Discuss about the International and Comparative Employment Relations.
The main focus of this paper is to present a comprehensive discussion on the Fair Work Commission (FWC) with regards to agreements’ making and approval. Understanding the role FWC play in making as well as approving agreements is very essential to enchanting employee relations.
The Vice-President Graeme Watson of the FWC has resigned and this has poked holes on the effectiveness of the Australia’s workplace relations legislations as well as the manner in which it is being administered by national tribunal. The resignation attracted substantial national media attention when it came in January 2017.
The President sent a letter to the Employment Minister, Michaelia Cash with content that drew lots of public interest. The letter paints FWC as partisan, dysfunctional as well as divided and hence there is a need to analyze and understand the above question relating to the role of FWC. The dissenting views of the President concluded his dissatisfaction that family alongside domestic violence leave that ACTU claim is essential to offer a fair along with relevant safety net of conditions along with terms and backed the rejection of ACTU’s claims.
The reason for dissenting is that allowing ACTU would introduce a kind of leave possible of being taken before prior approval. Such an approach in Watson’s view to the problem of domestic violence avails the risk of disheartenment degree of trust at workstation along with causing substantial indecision alongside cost for workers.
The rejection has been welcomed by Australian Industry Group terming the reasoning as solid and convincing. This was mainly because employers show diversity in capacities to offer support to workers victimized by domestic violence in personal lives. There were views against the claim by the union to vary the awards to allow every worker an entitlement to ten days paid leave annually.
The “Enterprise Bargaining on the Brink” details the enterprise bargaining process. This is the process negotiation often between employers, employees as well as their bargaining representatives with sole aim or goal of making the enterprise agreement. It has been provided for in the Australia’s new workplace relation system that came to force in July 1, 2009 following its establishment by the Fair Work Act 2009 (FWA 2009) governing Australian workplaces. The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) primarily assist workers, employers, contractors as well as the community in understanding as well as complying with this new system (Fair Work Commission 2015).
FWO 2009 offers education, information along with advice besides helping in resolving workplace complaints, conducting investigations as well as enforcing appropriate Commonwealth workplace laws. The FWO 2009 creates a set of precise rules as well as obligations relating to how such process is to take place, incorporating rules relating to bargaining, content of enterprise agreements, as well as how such agreements are made and subsequently approved.
Various enterprise agreements exist including single-enterprise agreement, Greenfield agreement and multi-enterprise agreement. The shared and separate workplace agreements exist within preceding system of workplace relations were substituted on July 1, 2009 by a solitary kind of arrangement called the ‘enterprise agreement’. It is the arrangement amid single or additional nationwide system employees along with employers as outlined in arrangement. These covenants are negotiated by stakeholders via shared bargaining based on good faith, essentially at level of enterprise. With the FWA 2009, the enterprise implies any form of commerce, project, action and task.
FWC is mandated to make agreements. These agreement can be single, multi- and Greenfield. A single-enterprise type is arrived at amid a solitary proprietor (and 2 or more solitary interest companies) besides the staffs hired at time agreements is reached, in addition to those that shall be enclosed under this arrangement. The solitary interest companies are those in a shared project or shared enterprise and are associated companies. They as well can be those companies sanctioned as solitary interest by FWC that could either be franchisees or additional proprietors whereby the Employment Minister has undertaken pronouncement.
Multi enterprise agreement is arrived at amid 2 or additional companies (who are never altogether singe interest proprietors) alongside workers hired at period contract is reached alongside that shall be shielded under the contract. Greenfield arrangement is made with respect to a novel enterprise of employer (s) beforehand given employees are hired. It can be whichever a solitary enterprise arrangement or the multi enterprise arrangement. The participants to the Greenfield arrangement are those employer (s) in the multi-enterprise Greenfield contract alongside one or additional appropriate worker association.
The process of making the enterprise agreement can as well be presented. The FWA 2009 offers a simple, flexible as well as fair framework which helps employees and employers to bargain on the basis of good faith to reach the enterprise contract. Employees, proprietors and corresponding haggling reps are engaged in this course of negotiating for a given planned enterprise arrangement.
The proprietor has to give notification to their workers of the right for representation by the bargaining representatives in the course of bargaining of the enterprise agreement with an exemption of the greenfield agreements as early as conceivable, and never beyond fourteen days following the notice period for an arrangement (often beginning of haggling).
The notice needs to be availed to every present worker who shall be protected by the enterprise arrangement. The company who makes the Greenfield agreement has to provide a written notification to every worker organization which is a bartering agents for given proposed arrangement. Such a notification has to entail the beginning date of the 6 month negotiation duration for the Greenfield agreement.
The approval of the agreements is a mandate of the FWC. The approval process succeeds the completion of bargaining and subsequent drafting of the enterprise agreement. Once the draft has already been generated, it has to be subjected to voting by workers that shall be sheltered under pact. Beforehand voting can be taken for the worker endorsement, employers has to fulfil certain conditions.
The employer has to make sure that in the course of the 7 day duration prior to voting for this agreement, a copy of the agreement must be given to the workers along with any other material incorporated in this enterprise agreement. The employer has to further give a notification to the workers of the time as well as place the vote shall be undertaken as well as the method of voting to be employed (Berg et al. 2013).
The employers must also make sure that all reasonable moves are taken appropriately to make sure that the enterprise agreement’ terms along with the effect of such term, are clearly explicated to the workers. The employers must further give inclusive explanation in an appropriate manner including being consumable to young employees, workers from diverse cultural backgrounds as well as workers who never had bargaining representatives (Fernando Chang-Muy and Congress 2015).
The employers have to endorse the agreement by voting for the agreement. The vote cannot happen unless at least twenty one days from the time workers were given the notification of their right to filled in a bargaining representative (Kidd et al. 2014).
When the vote is successful, the following conditions must be met. For the singe-enterprise agreement the majority of the workers of the employer (s) in case of more than one interest employer that cast valid vote give endorsement to the agreement. In case of multi-enterprise agreement, the majority of workers of at minimum one of employers who have casted valid votes must give endorsement to the agreement (Klarsfeld et al. 2014).
Multiple enterprise agreement solely covers proprietors whose workers have voted to approve the agreement. Thus, following the vote, the agreement has to be varied to eliminate such employers whose workers have not participated in voting for the approval of the agreement. No employees are allowed to vote on Greenfield agreement. This kind of agreement has to be signed by every employer and every relevant worker organization which it covers (Bray and Waring 2014).
Various steps precede the making and subsequent approval of agreements. The first step in approval is to apply for the FWC approval. The request for a given projected enterprise pact has to be wedged with FWC under fourteen days of arrangement being generated or under such supplementary duration as FWC permits: The following must accompany the application (Pocock Charlesworth and Chapman 2013). The copy of agreement duly signed, besides somewhat declaration which are needed by the FWC to supplement the request. For the endorsement of the enterprise covenant, FWC has to be gratified that:
The approval for Greenfield occurs if the organization of employees covered under the agreement have entitlements to represent the respective interest of a majority of the workers and it is the interest of the public. In case of disagreement between employee organizations and employer on terms of Greenfield agreement following 6 months of bargaining, the employer has a room to lodge the agreement for FWC’s approval (Westacott 2017).
In such circumstances, the FWC has to be satisfied that the agreement complies with BOOT and provides for pay along with condition which comply with standards of pertinent industry (McPhail, Jerrard and Southcombe 2015). The enterprise agreements becomes effective and operationalized within 7 days following the FWC’s approval or at a later time as outlined in the agreement. From such a date on, terms and conditions of the workers are drawn from the effective enterprise agreement (Wright and Lansbury 2016).
Various strengths and weaknesses are attributable to the process making and subsequent approval of agreements. The strength of the process is that it is straightforward process that with clear terms and conditions that enables employers and employees to reach agreements. The other strength is that the process allows for effective consultation for both parties to understand the content of the agreement. The other strength is that the process allows for the representation of the employers and employees (Bray et al. J 2014).
The other strength is that it bestows power on the employees to vote for the approval of the agreement before being presented to the FWC for approval. It also allows fair hearings by allowing all parties the chance to put forward their cases effectively as well as have the same case addressed impartially without favoring either party and in compliance with the law (Baird, McFerran and Wright 2014).
It is also based on impartiality anchored on the general rule that a Member cannot deal with an issue in case all conditions, a fair minded viewer could have a sensible apprehension that Member could never bring an unbiased as well as evenhanded mind to the underlying incident before her (Bailey and Peetz 2014).
The weakness in the process is that some agreements can be dismissed even if agreed, difficulty in the determination of facts by the FWC and high exposure to bargaining dispute, contravention of bargaining order and failure to reach agreements among parties.
References
Bailey, J. and Peetz, D., 2014. Australian unions and collective bargaining in 2013. Journal of Industrial Relations, p.0022185614524410.
Baird, M., McFerran, L. and Wright, I., 2014. An equality bargaining breakthrough: Paid domestic violence leave. Journal of Industrial Relations, 56(2), pp.190-207.
Berg, P., Kossek, E.E., Baird, M. and Block, R.N., 2013. Collective bargaining and public policy: Pathways to work-family policy adoption in Australia and the United States. European Management Journal, 31(5), pp.495-504.
Bray, M and Waring, P 2014, ‘Chapter 5: Employment relations’, in R Kramar, T Bartram, H De Cieri, RA Noe, JR Hollenbeck, B Gerhart & PM Wright, Human resource management in Australia: strategy, people, performance, 5th edn, McGraw-Hill Education (Australia), North Ryde, CQUniversity Course Resources Online (HRMT20027).
Bray, M, Waring, P, Cooper, R and Macneil, J 2014, Employment relations: Theory and practice, 3rd edn, McGraw-Hill Education (Australia), North Ryde.
Charlesworth, S. and Macdonald, F., 2014. Women, work and industrial relations in Australia in 2013. Journal of Industrial Relations, 56(3), pp.381-396.
Fair Work Commission, 2015. Educational Services (Schools) General Staff Award 2010.
Fernando Chang-Muy, J.D. and Congress, E.P. eds., 2015. Social work with immigrants and refugees: Legal issues, clinical skills, and advocacy. Springer Publishing Company.
Kidd, D.B., Malone, B.P., McBratney, A.B., Minasny, B. and Webb, M.A., 2014. Digital mapping of a soil drainage index for irrigated enterprise suitability in Tasmania, Australia. Soil Research, 52(2), pp.107-119.
Klarsfeld, A., Booysen, L.A., Ng, E., Roper, I. and Tatli, A. eds., 2014. 9.78 E+ 12: Country Perspectives on Diversity and Equal Treatment. Edward Elgar Publishing.
McPhail, R, Jerrard, M and Southcombe, A 2015, Employment relations: an integrated approach, Cengage Learning Australia, South Melbourne.
Pocock, B., Charlesworth, S. and Chapman, J., 2013. Work-family and work-life pressures in Australia: advancing gender equality in “good times”?. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 33(9/10), pp.594-612.
Westacott, J 2017, ‘Enterprise bargaining on the brink’, Australian Financial Review, 2 February, p. 34.
Wright, C.F. and Lansbury, R.D., 2014. Trade unions and economic reform in Australia, 1983–2013. The Singapore Economic Review, 59(04), p.1450033.
Wright, CF and Lansbury, RD 2016, ‘Employment relations in Australia’, in GJ Bamber, RD Lansbury, N Wailes and CF Wright (eds), International and comparative employment relations: National regulation, global changes, 6th edn, eds, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest.
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