Module 5 - Employer and Industry Associations

Question 1

What do employer associations do?

Answer 1

represent employers interests politically, economically, and in employment relations.

• Most employer associations exhibit the following charactieristics;

1. They provided services for a fee (fee for service);
2. The services included human resources and organisational and business consulting;
3. Staff working in the employer association had broader backgrounds than in earlier studies;
4. There had been a growth in training programs;
5. There was a greater focus on marketing of the associations; and
6. Each organisation in the study was active in lobbying government

• In effect, the work of employer associations would thus include representing employers in collective bargaining, advocacy before tribunals, providing advice on ER matters, training in what employees needed to do to satisfy the rules under legislation every time the industrial relations laws were changed, neutralisation of unions.

Question 2

What is the structure of employer associations?

Answer 2

o A board of management (or council): the council would be elected by the members to provide general governance to the association.
o executive committee of management: these guys are elected by the council
o full-time salaried staff including; secretariat qhich has direct responsibility for the day to day running of the association.

Question 3

Why were employer associations formed?

Answer 3

o To counter the power of trade unions:This occurred in the nineteenth-century with the expansion trade unions in Australia and a cmmon union tactic of playing one company off against another for wage increases and improved conditions of work;
o To resist State regulation of the employment relationshipThis was a matter of defending managerial prerogative. Peak organisations in particular provided a focus for lobbying government and influencing public opinion on the need for industrial relations reform that protected managerial prerogative.
o To manage competition between employersThat meant taking wages out of competition between employers, so that a low-wage employer did not undercut labour market conditions elsewhere and gain unfair market share. (Barry & Wilkinson 2011).

Question 4

What is meant by counterveiling powers and employer associations?

Answer 4

• The notion of countervailing power was developed as an explanation of the role of employer associations in contempary employment relations.

refer to countervailing power as a balance between parties that exist in response to each other.