Industrial Relations and Stakeholder Participation in Australia

Running head: INDUSTRIAL RELATIONSHIP AND STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION
Industrial Relations and Stakeholder Participation
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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INDUSTRIAL RELATIONSHIP AND STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................1
1990s till present:.............................................................................................................................5
Key stakeholders and differing functions:.....................................................................................11
Enforcing bodies:.......................................................................................................................11
State and Federal Governments (Federal Political Parties):......................................................12
Trade Unions:............................................................................................................................13
Employee Associations:.............................................................................................................13
Employer Associations (MABV/AIB/HIA):.............................................................................13
Community:...............................................................................................................................14
Enforcement of legislations:..........................................................................................................14
Current Environment:................................................................................................................14
Enforcing Bodies and Power-Employer (Employer Associations) vs Employee trade unions
(Trade unions):...........................................................................................................................15
Dispute Resolution:.......................................................................................................................16
Wider community:.....................................................................................................................16
Economy:...................................................................................................................................16
Politics of State and Commonwealth governments:..................................................................17
Future of Australian Industrial Relations:.....................................................................................17
Current Liberal Government:....................................................................................................17

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Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption-ABCC:.............................17
Future:........................................................................................................................................17
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................18
References:....................................................................................................................................19

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INDUSTRIAL RELATIONSHIP AND STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION
Introduction:
Industrial relation between employees and employers play a significant role in economic
development of nations. The aim of the paper is to study the various aspects of industrial relation
system in Australia and how it has evolved over time. Then the researcher would view the
industrial relationship and its members, the employers and the employees from the view point of
stakeholder concept. Then the role of various members of industrial relation like the government,
the employers, the labour union, the employers’ association and the community in general would
be assessed.
Overview History and Principles of Australian Industrial Relation System:
Conciliation and Arbitration:
It is evident that, the methods of dispute resolution involving arbitration and conciliation have a
long history in Australia. In this context, it is worth mentioning that, the Constitution from the
beginning envisaged the provisions of industrial arbitration and conciliation in Australia (Bourg
and Erkman 2017). In this regard, mention can be made about the existing constitutional bodies,
for instance, the Australian Industrial Relations Commissions, in which it was important to
amend the functions that have been envisaged for its formulation (Charlesworth and Macdonald
2015). In Australia, the first Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission was established
in 1973 (Wright and Lansbury 2014). With the formulation of the Australian Conciliation and
Arbitration Commission, the functions of the Commonwealth Conciliation & Arbitration
Commission have been replaced and the newly formed Commission is performing its functions
effectively (Luke 2018). However, during the end of 1988, a legislative reform was formed by
the federal government by repealing the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 and thereby in

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such process; it was replaced by the Industrial Relations Act 1988 (Mowbray, P.K., Wilkinson
and Tse 2015). Therefore, with the advent of the establishment of newly formed Australian
Industrial Relations Commission has replaced the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration
Commission.
General Background - Workers’ Rights and Entitlements, Equal Rights, Discrimination:
Under the provisions of both the Victorian and the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity and
the Anti-discrimination legislation, there is a right entrusted to the workers in a workplace which
will be free from all kinds of discrimination (Weller and O’Neill 2014). Workplace
discrimination takes place when an adverse action is taken against an employee on the part of an
employer (Kaufman 2015). The protected attributes can be emphasized as race, color, sex,
religion, social origin and disability. In this context, the Australian Human Rights Commission
of 1986 replaced the age-old Human Rights Commission established in 1981. In this regard,
three new commissions have been newly implemented for instance- the Human Rights
Commissioner, Sex Discrimination Commissioner and the Race Discrimination Commissioner
which provided appropriate protection to the Worker’s Rights and Entitlements, Equal Rights
and Discrimination (McDonald and Thompson 2016).
Awards, Enterprise bargaining Agreements (EBA) and Unfair Dismissal:
From the very beginning, the National Employment Standards (NES), has implemented a
number of employment standards. It is noteworthy to mention here that, under to employer-
employee relationship, most of the employees do not fall under the purview of an award.
Mention can be made about the concept of unfair dismissal according to the provisions of
Section 385 of the Fair Work Act. However, the concept of unfair dismissal is concerned with a

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person who has been unfairly dismissed in a workplace. Whether a person is unfairly dismissed
or not depends upon the part of the Fair Work Commission on being satisfied that whether such
person has been actually dismissed, the nature of the dismissal was such as it involved harshness
and was unjustified (Donaghey et al. 2014). The Fair Work Commission on being satisfied that
such dismissal did not comply with the provisions of the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code
and without the involvement of a case of genuine redundancy (Edwards et al. 2015). After
receiving the prescribed application and on being satisfied after reviewing the applications, the
Fair Work Commission shall provide protection accordingly.
The Enterprise bargaining process is concerned with the negotiation that takes place between the
employers and employees in connection to their intention of establishing an enterprise agreement
(Legg et al. 2015). However, the nature of the enterprise agreement may be such where there is
an involvement of one or more national system employers and employees according to the
specifications prescribed in the agreement. It is worthwhile to refer here that, in most of the cases
these enterprise agreements are negotiated by the parties by involving the process of collective
bargaining and in good faith. According to the provisions of Fair Work Act 2009, an enterprise
can be denoted as a business activity or undertaking.
Fair Work Act 2009 (law), Fair Work Ombudsman (enforcer), Disputes Heard in Fair
Work Commission (tribunal):
It is evident that for the purpose of administering a number of laws and regulations governing the
workplace culture in Australia, the Fair Work Act 2009 and the Fair Work Ombudsman are the
main legislative bodies dealing with them. From the very beginning, these Acts have been
governing the principles of employer-employee relationship in Australia by providing a number