Chapter Six: The Human Resource Management Function - Employee Relations Flashcards
Employer
For legal purposes, a person or organisation who exercises control over employees, has responsibility for payment of wages and holds the power to dismiss employees.
Employee
A worker under an employer’s control. Control may involve the location of the workplace, the way in which the work is performed or the degree of supervision involved. These criteria are critical in determining legal disputes over the employment contract.
Trade unions
Organisations formed by employees in an industry, trade or occupation to represent them in efforts to improve wages and the working conditions of their members.
Employer associations
Organisations that represent and assist employer groups.
Log of claims
A list of demands made by workers (often through their union) against their employers. These demands cover specific wages and conditions. Employers may also serve a counter-log of claims on the union.
Peak union body
A peak organisation or peak body is an Australian term for an advocacy group or trade association, an association of industries or groups with allied interests.
Peak employer body
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Award
A legally binding agreement that sets out minimum wages and conditions for a group of employees.
Collective bargaining
A process that involves determining the terms and conditions of employment through direct negotiation between unions and employees.
Wage indexation
A process whereby wage increases are given by a tribunal in national wage cases, in line with increases in the cost of living (prices).
Enterprise bargaining
The process of directly negotiating wages and employment conditions between employers and employees at the enterprise level.
Centralised system
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Conciliation
A process that occurs when a third party participates in the resolution of a dispute and attempts to help resolve the differences through discussion.
Arbitration
A process that occurs when a ‘judge’ (such as a commissioner of the Fair Work Commission) or a panel of ‘judges’ hears both arguments in a dispute in a more formal court-like setting and determines the outcome.
Collective/enterprise agreement
A negotiated agreement between an employer and a union or a group of employees.
Common law individual (employment) contract
A contract that covers those employees who are not under any Award or collective/enterprise agreement.
Conflict
Disputes, disagreements or dissatisfaction between individuals and/or groups.
Strike
This occurs when employees withdraw their labour for a period of time in pursuit of improvements in their employment conditions.
Lockout
The situation when employers close the workplace for a period of time as a means of applying pressure to employees during a period of industrial conflict.
Green bans
Bans imposed by trade unions on any development that is considered harmful to the environment or an area of historical significance.
Protected industrial action
Action taken by either party to a dispute that has been approved by the Fair Work Commision.
Unprotected industrial action
Action that has not yet been approved by the Fair Work Commission.
Negotiation
A method of resolving disputes whereby discussions between the parties result in a compromise and a formal or informal agreement about a dispute.
Mediation
The confidential discussion of issues in a non-threatening environment, in the presence of a neutral, objective third party. Many organisations now specify mediation as a first step in their dispute resolution or grievance procedures.
Grievance procedure
An orderly system whereby the employee and employer can resolve matters relating to complaints about wages, hours, working conditions or disciplinary action.
Employee relations
The total interaction that occurs between an employer (and their representatives), and the employee (and their representatives), in regard to the establishment of conditions of employment.
