Conflict Resolution and Unfair Dismissal in Australian Industries

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of conflict resolution within Australian industries, focusing on the decline of formal industrial actions, the effectiveness of unfair dismissal procedures, and the rights of employees. The report examines the historical context of industrial disputes, highlighting the impact of economic and sociological factors, as well as management and employer opposition. It explores the role of the Fair Work Commission, enterprise agreements, and the impact of workplace bullying. The analysis also delves into the transformation of employment in Australia, addressing the rise of unfair dismissal claims and the importance of employee working rights. The report concludes with recommendations for employers to ensure fair treatment and safeguard employee rights, emphasizing the significance of a positive work environment and adherence to the Fair Work Act.

Running head: RESOLVING CONFLICT
Resolving Conflict
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction:
The industrial disputes in Australia are mostly prevalent in the manufacturing
and the construction industries. These disputes and conflicts among the employers of the
organisation and the employees result in the loss of the working days to the disputation, since
the conflicts give rise to the industrial strikes and the protest son behalf of the labour force.
According to the Fair Work act (2009), there has been a regulation of the industrial actions
and the employees and the employers are in constant regulation, so that they cannot respond
to the industrial conflicts (Van Gramberg, et.al., 2014). Employees are able to take secured
industrial action to support or advance claims for a new enterprise agreement. This could
only happen if the action is authorised by a protected action ballot order made by the Fair
Work Commission. The following analysis of the discussion aims to answer the questions
that has been posed by the case study discussions. Whether the unfair dismissal claims are
effective and to what extent, and whether the effective ending of the formal industrial actions
in Australia can be explained by management, has been analysed in the following paper.
Discussion analysis:
It can be argued that the relative frequency of the industrial action and the amount of
industrial conflicts have declined to a great extent, almost 97 percent from 1917 to the present
date. These conflicts and the stoppages of labour force had been very common throughout the
post-war expansion. These accounted to an average of 1700 work stoppages per year. This
had reached its peak in the year 1970 (McCrystal , 2014). However with the development of
the new bargaining system in the year 1993, the number of industrial conflicts declined to a
great extent. There had been the introduction of the new concept which was aimed to protect
the industrial actions. The number of the work force disputes thus had reduced to a great

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extent. Looking at the statistics, we can find that there were about 700 disputes per year
which had occurred from 1990 through the mid2000s (Bray & Stewart, 2013).
Analysing the reason behind the industrial disputes, it can be found that there was a
clear relationship between the pace of the wage growth of the employees in Australia and the
frequency of nation’s industrial disputes. According to Peetz (2016), taking accounts of the
history of the post war economic status of Australia, it can be analysed that there was a
consistent threat of the work stoppage due to the bargaining power of the employees and the
workers. The initial years of the post war crisis had noticed a sharp increase in the industrial
dispute and the activities of strike along with the rapid increase of the annual wage of the
workers. There was a decline in the frequency of strikes with the beginning of enterprise
negotiating and other market-oriented reforms in industrial relations. This had resulted in the
increase of the pace of wage.
Thus from the discussion, a conclusion can be drawn that the cumulative decisions in
order to prohibit the industrial actions and disputes have contributed to a great extent to the
erosion and in diminishing the organised industrial disputes and strikes in the Australian
economy. The rate of the strikes and the disputes have declined and reduced.
It can also be said that the effective reduction of formal industrial action in Australia
can surely be explained by management and opposition of the employer. Considering the past
history, the management of the industries in Australia have effectively worked for the
reduction of the industrial conflicts. The management meeting the demand of the employees
and effective opposition on behalf of the labour force Commission did help in the effective
ending of the former industrial action in Australia. According to Nicholson, Pekarek &
Gahan (2017), formal arrangements for resolving industrial disputes did involve the union,

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the managementand even the labour agencies. They helped to resolve the conflicts among the
employees by taking the help of the employee representatives and the employers.
There are different economic and social logical factors to that work for effective
decline in industrial conflicts. Since economic causes are the most common reasons for
strikes in industries that can be lesser strikes if the demand for wages of the employees are
met.The increase in the prices result in the decrease in the real wages of the workers (Wright
& Lansbury, 2014). By taking a glance at the history of the industrial disputes it can be
concluded that most of the industrial disputes was because of the wages does an increase in
the wage rate results in the declination of industrial actions (Spencer & Hardy, 2014). Also
another Economic factor of allowance and bonus results in the lesser industrial strikes. The
friction among the employees and employers would decrease and there would be a decline in
the former industrial strikes if the allowance and the bonus of the employees take an
increasing toll. Regarding the social logical factors it can be said the better work environment
pleases the workers and the employees and the labour in turn. According to Wilson et.al.,
(2013), if there is a positive work environment where they can work in and the working
conditions improve it would result in work satisfaction of the employees in turn result in the
reduction of disputes among the workers and their employers . Failure on the part of the
employer to recognise the trade unions and the Rival unions for representation was a cause of
the industrial disputes does if the attitude of the employees towards their labour force
becomes sympathetic it would lead to lesser industrial conflicts or strikes (Nicholson,
Pekarek & Gahan, 2017).There have been a large number of enterprise agreements which
cover the employees and the employers. They are allowed to take protected industrial action
only when the nominal expiry date of the agreements expire. They are however allowed to
claim their demands in the areas which the agreement covers. This is one instance which has
helped in the reduction of the disputes. On the other hand, it has been argued by Lewis (2016)

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that the increase in the industrial disputes do recommend the employers to start planning for
the employers bargaining negotiations. If there is careful industrial strategy on the behalf of
the management of the enterprise, there could be minimisation of the disruption caused by the
strike and the other disputation.
On analysing the job prospects, the job security and the unfair dismissal procedures of
Australia it can be found that the nature of employment in Australia has undertaken a
transformation over the past 20 years and most recently in the past 3 years. From the
discussion it is found that there are 14,135 claims of unfair dismissal of the employees where
the workers have complained that their dismissals where harsh, unfair and unreasonable. The
most significant element that had caused this transformation in the job prospects had been the
decline and the deduction of the traditional lifelong and the traditional employment. There
were evidences of casual employment in Australia between the year 1996 and 1998 . as
discussed by Davis & Lansbury (2013), this extraordinary rate of growth of casualization in
Australia and the unfair dismissal of the employees can be linked to different factors such as
globalisation of the Australian economy, the restructuring and the development of the
corporate new technology and the different forms of the work organisation. However it is
argued by Hepple (2013), that in present times the rate of the unfair dismissal of the
employees in Australia have declined due to the various policies and industrial actions of the
Fair Work Commission. The rival senators of Australia too strongly agree in accordance with
the Queensland government and the Fair Work Commission that there needs to be a
significant public policy that would aim to address the issue of the unfair dismissal.

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From the third discussion, it can be analysed that the employees should be receiving
the deserved working rights in the organisation. Under the employment law, the employers
are expected to investigate their areas of injustice and their complaints since it is the right of
the workers to work in a positive work environment (Cooper, 2013). Proper working
conditions being the right of the employees, they should feel free to lodge a formal complaint
against any kind of different behaviour. The employer has the duty to care for the employees
and the labour force in the workplace, according to the health and the safety laws. According
to the Fair Work Act (2009), a worker should be allowed a support person, unless there are
proper grounds of refusal. The support person remains present in a supporting role in order to
witness the discussions. However he does not have the right to be a vocal advocate..
According to the Fair Work act, there is prohibition of Sham contracting. The
employers are basically expected to treat the employees in a proper manner, by paying the
correct amount of tax, by providing them appropriate and deserving leaves, by taking care of
the unfair dismissal laws and also by providing the legislative protection to the workers.
These employers can be fines for the breaches (Acharya, Baghai & Subramanian, 2013). The
employers should be careful before engaging anyone as a self dependent contractor.
According to Thornwaite & Sheldon (2014), there coukd be possible harm to the arrangement
,if a person makes his place on the wrong side of the employee contractor divide. The system
of employment in Australia and the violation of the workplace rights can be subjected to two
different organisations in Australia. These organisations include the Fair Work Ombudsman
(FWO) and the Fair Work Australia (FWA). From the discussion of the case study it can be
seen that there are larger number of employees present in Australia who do not even are
aware of the laws and the regulations that present under the Australian government (Walpole,
2015). They remain working in the negative working conditions which do not even provide
the working rights to them. There are small number of employees which seek remedy for the

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violation of the workplace right. Considering this case, it can be concluded that the reason for
this ignorance is not always about not knowing the rights. The fear of the employers often
keep the employees away from complaining about their violation of the rights. The employers
in most of the cases terminate the employees if they tend to lodge a formal complaint against
the poor working conditions. There are more number of employees who abstain from raising
their voice is because they are more fond of their reputation in the workplace. Most likely if
they gain the courage to complain about the negativity in the working environment, they
would be targeted and there is a tendency, that they would be thought as unproductive
employees. The trust issues that rise could affect the working conditions as well adversely.
By complaining or by revolting against the poor working environment, the employees are
etching away at their own credibility thus proving to the world and the employers that they
are not capable to cope up or adjust with the situations. Thus there are small number of
employees which seek to redress the breaching of workplace rights (Thornwaite & Sheldon,
2014).
Talking about the remedies, it can be suggested that the employers should be treating
the workers and the labour force in a proper manner and in a manner that they deserve. The
employee rights should be safeguarded according to the laws and the regulations of the Fair
Work Commission (Opeskin, 2017). The workers should feel safe to work in the
organisations and for this, they should be often rewarded for their efforts and there should be
increase of the wages, so that they can feel that they are important for the organisations.
Conclusion
Thus from the above discussion and analysis it can be concluded that in spite of the
post war crisis and the history of Australia, the strikes and the industrial conflicts in the
present times have declined to a great extent. This has been effective because of the

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management and the strong opposition from the employers. According to the Fair Work
Commission, the employees and the workers of the organisation are treated well and their
demands are met. Also the effective involvement from the unions, have led to a reduction in
the industrial conflicts. Earlier, even though the employees did complain about the current
system of unfair dismissal, and they had the grudge that the dismissals were harsh, unfair and
unreasonable, the present scenario observes that there are lesser number of people who
complain about the unfair dismissals. This has been possible because of the growth of the
new technologies, the new policies of the Fair Work Commission and due to the laws and the
regulations by the Fair Work Act. Australian system of protection of the working conditions
of the workers had not been great and histories are proof that there were more number of
employees who complained against the unfair work conditions. This has reduced to a great
extent since the employees are receiving fair justice in the workplace and they are not been
affected by the unfair employer actions.

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