Employee Relation Management

This document discusses employee relation management, industrial conflicts, strikes, and absenteeism in the workplace. It explores the causes and consequences of strikes and absenteeism, as well as the impact on the economy and industries. The document also provides solutions to reduce industrial conflicts and improve employee relations.

Employee relation management 0
Employee relation management
Students Name
3/22/2019

Employee relation management 1
According to industrial dispute act, 1947, section 2(k), “Industrial difference refers to the
clash or difference between the employers and employers or employer and workmen or
between workmen and workmen, which is linked with occupation or non-employment or
term of engagement or with the circumstances of labor of any person (Whilte, 2019).
An industrial conflict takes place when the employees express its disappointment towards
organization at the existing state of the employee-management association. It may occur due
to materials associated to consistent wage payment, wage upsurge or remunerations
according to the terms of employment agreement. Such conflicts are classified under formal
and informal conflicts. The formal conflicts are pre-planned in a proper manner while the
informal ones are spontaneous and unorganized (Whilte, 2019).
The industrial conflict is inevitable in any organization but the friction between the employee
and the employer must be reduced through a collective bargaining process. The employees
hold a crucial strategic place in the organization and establishment of cordial relation
between the employee and the employer helps in achieving success and maximization of the
profits. It allows smooth functioning of the business and sustains the competitive advantage
of the company (Wise, 2015).
The increasing diversity at the workplace has created the emerging need to manage the
conflicts in the workplace. The leaders at the workplace do not systematically manage the
conflicts and views conflict as piecemeal or considered as local events. This inability of the
leaders leads to striking actions, the rivalry between and among the sub-units and the
individuals, absenteeism, lack of efficiency, slow production, low morale and sabotage at the
workplace (Thompson, 2017).
Strikes refer to the powerful tool which is used by trade unions and other labor associations to
get their demands acknowledged. It refers to the resigning of work by a cluster of employees

Employee relation management 2
to create pressure on the employer and meet their demands. In Australia, there is a protected
and unprotected industrial action. Protected means that it complies with the requirements of
the Fair Work Act and is ‘legal’ striking because the employers are terminating more and
more EBA’s which creates difficulty in conducting the strike and if the person does not pass
through all these hoops then the action is unprotected because in Australia each employee
who participates in the action can be fined $ 12,600 for each day and every violation
(McCrystal, 2019).
Historically the first strike action occurred by the end of 20th dynasty under Pharaoh Ramses
III in ancient Egypt on November 14, 1152, BC. The artists of the royal necropolis walked
off their jobs since they not had been paid off. The strike action becomes the feature of the
political landscape with the beginning of the industrial revolution (Ivancevic, Pourbeik and
Reid, 2018).
By the year 1830 when the Chartist movement was its peak, the worker's consciousness was
awakening and finally, in the year 1842 the conditions of labor across the different countries
evoked out and formed the modern general strike. As the 19 century arrived strikes became
the feature of industrial relation through the industrialized world (Abjorensen and Docherty,
2014).
The great strike of Australia was the longest duration strike which started on August 2 and
continued till October 15. In this strike, more than 100000 workers participated because the
foremen were watching the hours for completing the project. It introduced the time card and
adopted the scientific management concept. This created dissatisfaction because the workers
were considered as machines and lead to the deployment of their skills. This concept is again
taking shape from the year 2017 and becoming the major cause for the strikes and
absenteeism. The strikes in Australia started from the period 1788. In Australia, political

Employee relation management 3
strikes are a big no-no and the country has stood against all the odds. In the Australian
industries, the workers have to face various hoops for taking the industrial action and there
are threats related to fines and working conditions of the workers. In Australia, industrial
action is an unlawful and protected strike is allowed. Industrial action can only take place
during the well-defined bartering period in search of a novel mutual agreement (Sheafer et al,
2014).
A general strike refers to the action taken by thousands of workers from various industries of
a particular country or religion to take collective action. The general strike has its roots from
ancient Rome’s secessio plebis. The first modern strike took place during the industrial
revolution in the year 1842. The general strike is considered as the most successful strike
because it completely shut down the functioning of the economy and provides the
opportunity of massive demands across the capital of all the sectors. The expenses and the
loss from the general strike are difficult to calculate however it develops the emerging needs
for the industries to take the collective mutual actions and improve the working conditions of
the workers because general strikes cause massive harm to the economy and the industries
(ABC News, 2011).
The first step in conducting the strike includes sharing the information with the other
employees to know their reaction and complaints. The sharing of information must not be
during office hours and must be kept secretive. Secondly, the workers must contact the
national union to get the suggestion and further addition of the requirement in the strike.
Thirdly, the must carefully read the collective bargaining agreement because if the agreement
has a no-strike provision then the repercussions of conducting the strike can be dangerous.
Fourthly, the members must strike for a legitimate purpose i.e. to protest against the unfair
labor practices or the strike against the economic conditions which includes higher pay,
higher hours and better working conditions. Fifth, under the federal law the employee has to

Employee relation management 4
give the notice to the employer for termination of the collective bargaining agreement. The
person is required to wait for some time to conduct a lawful strike. The sixth step is to
identify the consequences of conducting the strike. Every country has its different laws, in
case of an economic strike the company can’t fire the striker but can replace it and in case of
protection against unfair labor practices, the striker is entitled to reinstatement at the end of
the strike. The last step in the process of the strike is to form committees which include
picketing, financial, general strike, publicity and negotiating committee (Long, 2017).
It is analyzed that in Australia the rate of absenteeism has risen to 7% from the year 2010 and
5% on the Australian workforce got sick on every day. The yearly cost of the Australian
economy through the absenteeism is surprising $ 33 billion. One absence of employee causes
$340 per day loss to the Australian economy. The main reason for the absenteeism is
entitlement culture at the Australian workplace because the employee of the organization
considers absenteeism as a divine right and 25 % of absenteeism reports is not analyzed by
the company (Peetz, 2016).
It is analyzed that absenteeism causes more pressure on the Australian organization as it
lessens the productivity of the companies. In Australia, there is the complex procedure for
conducting strikes and the repercussions of the strike are very threating however the impact
of absenteeism is more because it leads to lower productivity and the increases the cost for
the companies. The belief of the employees towards the divine right of absenteeism harms the
performance of the company and causes huge loss (Australian Unions, 2018).
In consideration to the above, the workers at the chemist warehouse take the strike action for
the high pay and job security. In 2016 it was analyzed that the chemist workshop was
underpaid and there were more casual workers which created the need to take the strike
action. It was forced to pay $ 3.5 million to nearly 6000 in-store staff and the union

Employee relation management 5
demanded of at least 70 % of the permanent jobs. The workers also complained about getting
bullied and harassment which hampered the brand image of the company (Lacey, Parsons,
and Moffat, 2012)
The fair commission in Australia is not in favor of the strikes and the right to strike is almost
dead in Australia. The fair commission can cancel the application of the strikes and the
working conditions of the workers can be harmed. The commission has the right to charge
penalties and fire the workers who participate in the strike. In relation to highly restrictive
laws adopted by the Australian government the union fight for the rights. They demanded
equal opportunities and consider a general strike as a powerful tool to disseminate distinctive
demands that favor the unions (Hamilton, 2016).
The political strikes challenge the accountability of the government but do not majorly affect
the functioning of the government. It is viewed as disruptive of the democratic process and
the pure political strike is coercive and prohibited. The strikes create a negative impact on
the economy and create internal disputes that harm the culture of the organizations. It is
scrutinized that strikes and absenteeism affect the functioning of the organization and
increases its overall cost. The economy suffers a huge loss and hampers the overall growth of
the economy (Arthurson, Darcy and Rogers, 2014).
The strikes and the absenteeism majorly impact the economy because such actions disturb the
growth of the economy and it also harms the goodwill of the industries. The culture and the
environment get hampered because of the dissatisfaction among the workers and the stoppage
of the work creates huge business losses. The supply of the industries becomes late and the
shift towards the absenteeism increases. It is analyzed that strikes create the negative impact
both on the employers as well as the unions because the employers suffer the loss of

Employee relation management 6
productivity and profitability of the industries while the employees lose the wages which are
hard to recover during the industrial action (Horne, 2018).
There is no winner in the conduct of the strikes and there is a loss of lives, incomes, and
destruction of the property. The industrial relations are disturbed and the economy gets
affected. Poor industrial relations affects the economy and the society as a whole however
the industries must focus on sustaining the good and harmonious relations with its employees
to sustain the competitive advantage and attain higher profits. The industries can reduce the
industrial conflicts by satisfying the diversified needs of its employees and providing the fair
wages to the workers. It must focus on increasing the permanent jobs and adopting the fair
labour practices. It will help in reducing absenteeism and strikes and will not hamper the
growth of the industry (Godard, 2011).
From the above discussion, it is concluded that strikes are used as a powerful tool to fulfill
the distinctive demands of the unions but from the above analysis, it is scrutinized that the
industrial action in Australia is almost dead and the employees need to go through the
complex process to get to the strikes. The employers of the organizations have the major
threat of heavy penalties and loss of the job security. It is observed that for conducting the
strike the workers have to undergone through a complex procedure and in Australia it can be
conducted only at the time of collective bargaining. The government of Australia has
constructed restrictions on conducting strikes which leads to increase in the rate of
absenteeism.
The causes of absenteeism can be sickness, accidents and the other legitimate purposes but in
Australia it is considered as imperative culture and considered as the divine right to conduct
absenteeism. The causes of Absenteeism are more dangerous because the company suffers
the huge loss and disturbs the overall economic performance of the industries. However it is

Employee relation management 7
analysed banning of strikes upsurges more of absenteeism and leaves the negative impact on
the economy as well as the industries,

Employee relation management 8
References
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