Advanced Studies in Industrial Relations - Analysis of Minimum Wage Case 2019

Running head: ADVANCED STUDIES IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
ADVANCED STUDIES IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
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Author’s note

ADVANCED STUDIES IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS1
Introduction
This assessment report focuses on the theories of Industrial relation with respect to
unions of Australia. It applies the theories of IR to characterise and analyse the Minimum
wage case 2019. The assessment contains analysis of two submissions from employer peak
body and from NGO. This determines the position of minimum wage of the organisation. It
determines the similarities and differences occurs in the theoretical positions of any
organisation by the union functions (Bender, 2018). It analyses the issues relating to the
practice of industrial relation in Australia. The purpose of the study is to synthesise and apply
the theoretical framework to critically analyse the issues in practicing industrial relation in
Australia.
Industrial relation
Industrial relation is a multidisciplinary field which focuses on employment
relationship. It defines the relationship between management and union, and between
representatives of employers and representatives of employees. Industrial relation is a set of
processes which expresses the relation among the employees, union and management (Ibsen,
2017). The industrial relation deals with collective bargaining which is conducted by the
union and management. The term Industrial relation consists of two terms; industry and
relation. The term industry refers to productive work where individual or group of individual
are engaged (Kelly, 2015). The term relation means the relationship which exists between the
employer and employee.
The two dominant aspects of industrial relation in modern industrial society are-
Cooperation- the modern industrial production depends on the cooperation between labour
and capital. Labour denotes the workers of the company and capital denotes the owner of the
company who supplies the capital to the company (Munro, 2018).
Conflict- the conflict always exists in the industry. Relation between management and
employees arise results in strikes and lockouts. This results in industrial dispute.
Objective of Industrial Relation
 The objective of industrial relation is to protect the interest of workers and the
management by establishing and maintaining industrial democracy at work.
 To resolve industrial conflict to establish a healthy work environment.

ADVANCED STUDIES IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS2
 It encourages for collective bargaining among employees and management through
unions.
 To help the government in making laws to improve the quality of employees.
Theories of Industrial Relation
The industrial relation consists of three frameworks which analyses and provides a
perception analysis on workplace relations. These frameworks interprets the conflicts arouse
during different functions (Poole, 2017). These are the three major framework –
 Unitarist perspective- In unitarism, the management is the only authority to control
and take decisions. It is a paternalistic approach where loyalty of employees are
determined by managers (Preston, 2018). The assumptions on workplace relations
describes the management and employees have common interest and goal. The
assumptions on trade union describes that a competing and illegitimate source of
authority.
 Pluralist perspective- the pluralistic perspective perceives that the organisation has
power and contains many sub- groups that have its own legislation. These
subgroups of the organisation manages the organisational functions they are the
trade union and management (Tapia, 2015). The pluralistic aspect considers that the
conflict is inherent in context to industrial relation. The management is least
bothered about controlling and enforcing the employees. They mainly focuses on
persuasion and coordination. The trade union of an organisation is the legitimate
representative of employees who deals with the rising conflicts.
 Radical- the radical perspective deals with the relation of workforce in an
organisation. It deals with the inequalities of power and also the economic wealth of
the organisation.
Minimum Wage 2019
The minimum wage is the lowest wage that an employee can be paid off. The current
minimum wage in Australia is $740.80 per week. This is considered as $19.49 to a minimum
hourly rate. The minimum wage was set on 30th May, 2019. The minimum wage in Australia
is one of the important element to maintain an effective cost structure while running a
business. For this a standard is set by Fair Work Commission for minimum grades of pay for
various job roles in an organisation.