Impact of Fair Work Act on Employment Relations in Australia

Running Head: EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
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1EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
Government plays a significant role in influencing the relationship between corporate
organisations and the interests of the workers. In fact, in the liberal market also there are certain
legislative proceedings and norms that the business organisations have to follow in order to do
business within the nation. Impact of globalisation also a significant factor that makes the
government more concern about creating a healthy business market where interests of both the
entities will be served. From that point of view, this essay aims to discuss the impact of Fair
Work Act of Australian on the labour market and the way it brought up significant changes in the
employment relation.
As far as the employment relation in Australia is concerned, a pluralist theory of
employment relation is existed within the market that connotes equal existence of the power of
both the corporate firms and the trade unions. According to Creighton and McCrystal (2017) the
pluralist theory of employment relation strongly support the amicable relationship between the
trade unions and the organisational management as both the authorities are entitled to put great
thrust on the betterment of the employees. Moreover, the role of the management is resembled
with coordinating, communicating and persuading the employees rather than command or
control. Pekarek et al. (2017) articulated that the pluralist theory projects a benevolent approach
of the business firms and effectively aligned it with the motive of the trade unions. In this regard,
the government also plays a very significant role in order to enacting the regulations that are
abided by both the employees and the organisations. The research of Charlesworth and
Macdonald (2015) confirmed that the role of the government is not only enacting and amending
the legal process but it is also the responsibility of the government to ensure a healthy business
environment that influences both the organisation and the employees positively. It results a better

2EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
communication and understanding between the elements and bring prosperity to the national
economy.
In case of Australian labour market, there are two types of job opportunities in terms of
the white collar jobs and the blue collar jobs. The white collar jobs are defined as the
management and professional tasks whereas the blue collar jobs identifies the clerical and labour
jobs like driving, operations and so on. The research of Peetz (2016) pointed out that before the
advent of globalisation, the Australian market was dominated by the blue collar jobs. Therefore,
most of the preferences and focus was on the drivers and labourers. The coming of globalisation
turned upside down and white collar profession got the opportunity to establish their power. As
globalisation elevated competition in the market therefore recruiting professionals had become a
pertinent matter for the organisations. This rapid change in the employment initiated high
interference of the government to implement a number of regulations that could influence the
organisational objectives ad employee interests predominantly. Specific regulations were made
for the benefits of the employee and government came forward to provide a safety and
safeguarding the interests of the workers. Naturally, the benevolent approach of government
rendered series of new measures for the development of the employees. Gradually, the
importance and significance of the trade union became faded away subsequently.
In this context, the role of the Fair Work Commission is paramount that entitles to
safeguard the interests of the employees effectively and provide enormous privileges for making
a better working environment for the workers. The motive of the Fair Work Commission is to
plan a set of rules for not only the employees but the employers and organisation also that is
resembled with the practice of employment (legislation.gov.au, 2019). For employment a
national standard is defined within the act that helps both the employees and employers to bring