HRM107 Study Guide - Final Guide: Labour Law, Better Off, Fair Work Ombudsman
4 Jun 2018
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Week 03: Chapter 3
EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS, INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND HRM
Industrial relations system refers to the rules, regulations and institutions that govern the
employment relationship and that set the terms and conditions of work and employment.
• Major parties: employers and their associations, employees and their trade unions.
• Many changes to industrial relations legislations: Fair Work Act 2009.
• Industrial relations is generally a matter of government policy but has practical and symbolic
implications at societal, organisational and individual levels.
• It was during the 1980s that saw the need for increased workplace flexibility, efficiency and
competition that led employers, unions and government to suggest significant changes in
legislations and regulations.
• WorkChoice: unfair imbalances in employer-employee relationship. Lower safety net of rights
and conditions for employees, reduced number of minimum labour standards, stripping award
conditions and increased employment insecurity by removing unfair dismissal protection.
Hence, the newly proposed Fair Work Act in 2009.
The relationship between HRM and IR is often uneasy and contested. SHRM attempts to create an
integration of personnel and industrial relations together in an operational sense and aligning these
fields much more directly to the business' interests/strategies.
• Strategic HR managers seek to link the way in which they manage IR to the HR plans and
polices of the organisation. Should be responsive to the dynamic environment and the
business strategy/objectives.
*An economic exchange is an agreement over the sale of the employee's potential to work.
*A power relationship is whereby the employee agrees to submit to the authority and direction of
the employer.
*This is a continuous and open ended contract where employees can modify and restrict their actual
work effort and collectively challenge managerial authority.
Stakeholders in IR
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The IR framework
• Concept used to describe the arrangements by which the terms and conditions of work and
the employment relationship are determined.
Bargaining frameworks:
1. Legislations: rules and management (Fair Work Act 2009) (min standards, rights, flexibility,
protection, collective bargaining rights, negotiations over awards.)
The NES (10)
1. Maximum of 38 hours of work per week
2. Requests for flexible working arrangements
3. Parental leave (birth/adoption)
4. Annual leave (4 weeks paid leave)
5. Personal/carer's leave
6. Community service leave
7. Long service leave
8. Public holiday work
9. Notice of termination and redundancy pay
10. Fair work information statement
11. Minimum wage
2. Institutions:
• Commission: problem solver. Setting modern awards which provide a safety net of min
conditions including wages, facilitate good faith bargaining, determine unfair dismissal claims,
general protections, assist to resolve disputes through conciliation and mediation.
• Office or Fair Work Ombudsman promotes harmonious, productive and cooperative relations.
Provides: advice and education, inspectorate services.
• Courts include: hearing matters, making appropriate orders.
3. Participants: employers, employer associations, employees, unions (collective voices),
bargaining agents. Decline in unions as a result in changes in the industry, structure and nature
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of work, changes in workforce demographics, management and government strategies. Union
officials have rights to enter premises to investigate suspected contraventions with the
condition of holding a valid permit and giving a 24 hour notice.
4. Processes: collective bargaining, 'good faith bargaining': expectation that parties will attend
arranged meetings and will provide information and respond to proposals in a timely manner
and will also give genuine considerations of the proposed negotiations. Industrial actions:
strikes, go-slows, picket lines, sabotage, turnover.
*Conciliation: Third party assisting management and unions to reach an agreed settlement. An
alternative may be private mediation.
*Arbitration: third party such as FWA making a judgement
5. Instruments: NES, modern awards (based on industry and occupation) (may include the
following: min wages, types of employment, overtime/penalty rates, annualised wage and
salary arrangements, allowances, leave, superannuation, consultation and dispute settlement
conditions, negotiation of flexibility), workplace agreements. (rates of pay, employment
conditions, dispute resolution procedures)
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Document Summary
Industrial relations is generally a matter of government policy but has practical and symbolic implications at societal, organisational and individual levels. It was during the 1980s that saw the need for increased workplace flexibility, efficiency and competition that led employers, unions and government to suggest significant changes in legislations and regulations: workchoice: unfair imbalances in employer-employee relationship. Lower safety net of rights and conditions for employees, reduced number of minimum labour standards, stripping award conditions and increased employment insecurity by removing unfair dismissal protection. Hence, the newly proposed fair work act in 2009. The relationship between hrm and ir is often uneasy and contested. Shrm attempts to create an integration of personnel and industrial relations together in an operational sense and aligning these fields much more directly to the business" interests/strategies. Strategic hr managers seek to link the way in which they manage ir to the hr plans and polices of the organisation.
