Week 9 - Enterprise Bargaining

Question 1

What is negotiation with respect to ER?

Answer 1

A process where two or more people share their concerns and interests to ideally reach an agreement of mutual benefit.
Derived from the ongoing employment relationship at the workplace. Operates within a framework that accepts co-existence of two parties with differing interests.
It is multilevel being organisational and personal. Organisational refers to how people can change but the negotiation is on behalf of organisations. Personal refers to the skills and agendas of the parties negotiating.

Question 2

What does personal integrity refer to?

Answer 2

• know your accountability and responsibility
• do not agree to something that cannot be provided
• a manager needs positional power and overall organisational knowledge
• a trade union needs the support of its members

Question 3

What is protected industrial action?

Answer 3

a range of protected industrial action can be balloted by union members under the FA act. An employer can also lock out employees without pay by giving 3 days notice. This occurred in QANTAS in October 2001

Question 4

Define enterprise bargaining

Answer 4

Enterprise bargaining is the process of negotiation generally between the employer, employees and their bargaining representatives (trade unions) to reach an agreement covering terms, conditions and wages in the workplace

Question 5

What did Bill Kelty say about enterprise bargaining in 1991?

Answer 5

“The new EB strategy is a strategy to create more interesting and financially rewarding jobs, by stimulating greater worker involvement in all aspects of the way their industry and workplace operates thereby driving enterprise reform and pushing up productivity levels. Workers will be able to see for themselves how wages are improved and see the benefits that unions deliver”

Question 6

FWA Agreement Content

Answer 6

Must pass the BOOT, protected award conditions and dispute settlement procedures

Question 7

What are the principles of good faith bargaining?

Answer 7

1. attending and participating in meetings at reasonable times
2. disclosing relevant information in a timely manner (unless it is confidential or commercially sensitive)
3. responding to proposals made by other bargaining representatives in a timely manner
4. giving genuine consideration to the proposals of other bargaining reps and reasons for any responses
5. refraining from capricious or unfair conduct that undermines freedom of association or collective bargaining
6. recognise and bargain with other bargaining agents

Question 8

What is the productivity enhancement approach to EB?

Answer 8

• broad agenda for negotiaton (strategic and cultural change at the workplace)
• Employees are valuable resources to be retained and invested in. Slide 48

Question 9

What is the cost minimisation approach to EB?

Answer 9

• narrow agenda for negotiation, employees as commodiites
• focus on trade-offs of work conditions for pay increases, genuine employee voice not encouraged
• emphasis on numerical flexibility

Question 10

Explain the development of enterprise bargaining

Answer 10

• First formally introduced in 1991, representing one of the most significant changes in Aust. employment relations history, despite the fact that above award negotiations had existed in some industries before this. Prior to this Awards were developed through a process of conciliation and arbitration. The introduction was facilitated by award restructuring and trade union amalgamations in the 1980s
• Award Restructuring and Efficiency Agenda (1987-1989) involved Federal industrial tribunal reviewing awards and using skills audits with a view of improving productivity and offering more fulfilling and better paid jobs. Structural efficiency principal say the transition from the centralised wages fixing of the past
• Initially went down a cost minimisation path driven by numerical flexibility. The alternative approach was productivity enhancement which was improving functional flexibility which emphasised skill acquisition through training and development. It was also an attempt to overcome adversarialism at work
• Workplace Relations Act (1996) introduced AWAs
• Workchoices (2005) emphasised AWAs, however the uptake was not high
• Fair Work Act (2009) marked a return to collective agreement making

Question 11

Define good faith bargaining and explain its limitations

Answer 11

• A process of negotiation premised on genuine exchange of information and an intent to reach an agreement
• limitations are that it does not require parties to reach an agreement / make concessions

Question 12

Explain the relationship between enterprise bargaining and industrial action

Answer 12

EB is subject to applications for protected industrial action. Protected industrial action is action that carries immunity from civil liability (unless destruction etc)

Question 13

Identify different mechanisms for conflict resolution

Answer 13

• different forms of industrial conflict, can be covert, overt, individual or multiple people e.g absenteeism and turnover, low morale, low productivity
• financial costs of individual conflict are often higher than collective conflict
• Mechasims to resolve conflict include facilitative and evaluative mediation, conciliation which in Australia is evaluative, arbitration which is a quasi legal method of dispute settlement

Question 14

Discuss whether workplace conflict is disappearing

Answer 14

• Industrial conflict is not going away irrespective of the IR system in place