Industrial Relations

Running Head: INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
NAME OF THE STUDENT
NAME OF THE UNIVERSITY
AUTHOR’S NOTE

1INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
The issue of downsizing is a crucial decision for the organization to make. The
organization decides to downsize its existing staffs when it feels that there is a shortage of
financial resources and capital or when the business is not yielding the desired results. The
organization can put forward the process of downsizing by implementing a number of notices as
well as taking some hard choices. The employees who lose their jobs start protests and rebel
against the organization to put forward their grievances. This makes the importance of the trade
unions and the labor unions relevant in the modern context. These bodies have been established
to address the issues and concerns of the employees so that the employees are not exploited
against. The concerns of the employees can be addressed by partially accepting some of the
concerns of the employees. The essay deals with the decision taken by the Fairfax organization
to cut down the jobs of 1900 of its employees and to digitalize the print media platform into
digital media so that he organization can boost its revenues in the market. The decision to
downsize was met with enormous protests and reactions from people belonging from diverse
backgrounds such as media, film and trade unions. The essay elaborates upon the decision to cut
out on the employees and the immediate consequence of such decision. The essay also elaborates
upon the issue of addressing the issue if it occurs again. The essay details about the issue faced
by the Fairfax organization and how it was mitigated by them. The Fair work act is also
elaborated in the essay. The main emphasis of the essay is on addressing the concerns of the
employees and the workers who are constantly worried about the future and outcome of them in
the organization. The process of downsizing involves the proper planning and implementation by
the managerial authorities. If done properly, the process of downsizing can reap great dividends
for the organization in the long run.

2INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Fairfax Media is considered as one of the largest media corporation operating in Australia
and New Zealand and invests in the print media such as newspaper and magazines as well as
operating in the radio and digital media outlets. John Fairfax who bought the Sydney Morning
Herald in the year 1841 established the company. The Fairfax family has since then had
controlled the administrative and business aspectof the company. The company also possesses
ownership rights for the most prominent Australian newspapers such as The Age, The Australian
Financial Review and holds the majority of the shares in the Domain Group and the Macquarie
Radio Network (Erdogan et al, 2014). The Fairfax Media also has joint ventures in the streamline
sector such as Stan and the online publishing agency HuffPost Australia. The present chairperson
of the group is Nick Falloon while the chief executive officer is Greg Hywood (Johanson &
Matson, 2015). The issue of cutting down the staffs and restructuring the organization is a global
phenomenon and occurs in all the organization from time to time. This is done when the business
of the organization is undergoing a slowdown and the organization decides to cut down its costs
and expenditure by downsizing the employees. Downsizing the employees can result in a
positive impact for the sales productivity as well as the growth of the organization. These
beneficial factors entice the leadership of the organization to downsize a certain number of
employees from the organization. The implementation if done properly can yield excellent
outcomes for the organization in terms of increased sales and revenues and if implemented
poorly, results in a number of unwanted situations and turmoil for the organization which can
even result in the filing of a lawsuit against the organization. In 2012, Fairfax Media decided to
downsize 1900 of its existing staffs and started to digitally convert its operations in publishing
newspapers such as The Sydney Morning Herald and the The Age (Vogt, 2016). The decision to
downsize its existing staffs resulted in a number of protests mainly from the employees who

3INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
were about to lose their existing jobs. The employees were supported by a number of
organizations such as the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), the Media
fraternity, the people in the Entertainment industry, the Arts Alliance (MEAA), the Australian
Services Union (ASU), the United Services Union (USU), the Communications Electrical and
Plumbing Union (CEPU) and the Australian Council of Trade Unions. The Fairfax media’s
decision to cut down on the jobs meant the loss of at least about 1900 people losing their jobs
(Hartwell, 2017). This was a tough decision to make considering the fact that the organization
was running low on capital and financial revenues. The organization had no other option except
to opt for downsizing in order to maximize its revenues and keep the business afloat. The
decision of the Fairfax media to scrap the job of 1900 people also meant the joining of the trade
unions with the different fraternities and the people from diverse backgrounds uniting in order to
manage the problem of downsizing. This issue gained public attention from a large section of the
population.
The main issues in contention during the downsizing process by Fairfax Media, which
resulted in the loss of about 1900 employees losing out on their jobs in the organization. This
issue highlighted the importance of the management and the roles and responsibilities, which
they are supposed to exercise. The Management is the process which involves how to deal with
and control the people (Jacobi et al., 2017). It is the body which serves multi-purpose activities
and coordinates the business by managing the people and the work. It involves the process of
generating work and achieving the desired objectives through the people. In recent years, the
importance of management has increased mainly because it has to balance the employee
relations in accordance with achieving the objectives in an environment of high internal
competition. The Management board has tomaintain the labour costs and flexibility in their