AOS 2B: Awards And Agreements Flashcards
What are the types of awards and agreements?
- National Employment Standards (NES)
- Awards
- Collective agreements
- Individual employment contracts
What are the national employment standards?
National employment standards is a system for determining wages and conditions that are set out in the Fair Work Act 2009 stipulating the protections put in place for employees.
Some examples:
- Max weekly hours (38 hours per week)
- Up to 12 months unpaid parental leave
- 4 weeks paid annual leave
What are awards?
Awards set out the minimum wages and conditions for those in a particular industry.
- Reviewed by the Fair Work Commission to ensure they are relevant for the current economic climate
- Employees cannot be paid or receive conditions bellow those stipulated in the awards
- For those on a collective agreement, the award acts as a safety net for employees
What are the advantages of awards?
- Not time consuming for employees as its set out by the Far Work Commission
- Employees have consistent and fair treatment with other employees
- A lot of bargaining power for employees
What are the disadvantages of awards?
- Cannot control pay given to workers which takes away from flexibility of employer
- Not going to be better off than other employees
- Will be hard to attract and retain good employees
What is collective agreements?
Collective agreements are workplace agreements between an employee and a group of employees.
- Enterprise bargaining: Negotiation between employer and employees then sent to fair work commission for approval
- Flexibility clause: Individual employees may seek alternatives
What are advantages of collective agreements?
- Enables employers to know what employees want
- Protected by the fair work commission
- More bargaining power for unions and employees
What are the disadvantages of collective agreements?
- More time consuming than awards
- Causes conflict between employers and employee due to ongoing negotiations
- Employers get a higher degree of protection compared to employees
What are individual employment contracts?
Individual employment contracts are a legal contract that can be signed by an individual employee with their employer regarding wages and conditions.
- Adhere to National employment standards and awards
- Disputes settles through courts
What are the advantages of individual employment contracts?
- can be tailor made to their own qualities
- Work more productively by putting in target specific for them
What are the disadvantages of individual employment contracts?
- Time consuming more than agreements
- Creates competition, favouritism, confrontations, etc
- Not a lot of bargaining power especially if inexperienced
