MMH349 Employment Relations Essay Assessment

Purpose

This is a research assignment. The aim of this task is for students to examine and develop a comprehensiveunderstanding of select aspects of the legislation enacted for the purpose of regulating Australian workplacerelations. The assignment requires students to use discipline-specific academic literature and otherauthoritative sources (for example policy statements or submissions to government-established inquiries) tocriticallyevaluatetheoperationandimpactofthelegislationinthemodernAustralianemploymentcontext.

This task provides you with opportunities to learn the knowledge (GLO1 and ULO1 & ULO4) and skills (GLO 2& GLO 4 and ULO1 & ULO2) required in the study and practice of workplace relations in Australianorganisations. By completing this task, you will develop your skills in researching, understanding, applying,evaluating,andpresentinginformationrequiredof business professionals.

Context/Scenario

For this task, assume you are a workplace relations practitioner. The Managing Director of yourorganisation has requested that you prepare and submit a written analysis of amendments to the FairWork Act 2009s multi-employer bargaining provisions resulting from the enactment of the Fair WorkLegislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 which received Royal Assent on 6 December2022, the values (frames of reference) that have informed them, and their potential consequence foremployersandemployees.

SpecificRequirements

Settingthescene:

The historic Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 (Cth) (Secure Jobs Act)passedParliamenton2December2022.Itintroducedthemostsignificantandwide-rangingchanges to

Australias workplace relations framework since the introduction of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Fair WorkAct).

Whileitprovidesforsignificantamendments totheFairWorkActandassociatedlegislation, the mosttopical and controversial aspects relate to the expansion of access to multi-enterprise agreements and multi-employerbargaining.

The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Tony Burke, has made it clear that the currentGovernmentaimedtoexpandmulti-enterprise bargaining,especiallyforlowpaidworkers,togetwagesmoving.

Unions argue that increased access to multi-enterprise bargaining is necessary for wages growth, given singleenterprise agreement coverage has plummeted in recent years. They contend it will increase wages for coveredemployees due to the increase in leverage and bargaining power that comes with bargaining as part of a largergroupsof employees.

Employers, employer associations and industry groups, on the other hand, are concerned that such changesrepresent a dangerous throwback to a by-gone era of industrial relations, arguing that the introduction of multi-enterprise bargaining will lead to increased bargaining disputation, reductions in productivity gains and sector orindustry-wideindustrialaction.

(Anon. (2022) What is multi-employer bargaining? Could it help lift wages growth in Australia? The Guardian, August 25; Marin-Guzman,D(2022)Whatmulti-employerbargainingmeansforbusinessAustralianFinancialReview,November 20.)

TheAssessmentTask:

In the context of the background information presented above, students are to research and write ananalytical essay which uses relevant employment relations (ER)/industrial relations (IR) theory, empiricalresearch evidence and other authoritative sources (policy statements, campaign publications, submissions togovernmentinquiriesandindustrialtribunals,annual reports,informedmediaandacademiccommentary)to presenta writtencriticalanalysisofthe followingquestions:

• What reforms to the Fair Work Acts multi-employer bargaining provisions were made by theAlbanese-led Federal ALP Government, with the enactment of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act inDecember2022?Whatwasthe Governmentsrationalefortheenactmentofthese changes?*
• What were the main arguments put forward, both for and against the multi-employer bargainingreforms, by employer associations, and trade unions on behalf of workers? Which of Foxs (1974)frames of reference (Topic 1) have the strongest influence over the main arguments put forward bybothemployerassociations andtradeunions?
• With reference to the known outcomes of multi-employer bargaining, what are the potentialconsequences of the recent reforms to the multi-employer bargaining provisions of the Fair WorkActforthetwosidesofindustryemployersandemployees?

*In answering the first questions there is no need to reproduce the provisions of the Act being discussed in full or wordfor word. Rather it is beneficial to the learning process to discuss the provisions that you identify as pertinent to thequestionsinyourownwordsasmuch aspossible.

Presentation:

Aprofessional-lookingdocumentbuildscredibility.

Youressayshouldbereader-friendly, so please ensureit:

• hasatitlepage(whichliststheunitcodeandtitle;assessmenttasktitle;studentidnumberandname;andwordcount).
• iswritteninessay
• isin12pt
• is5ordoublespacedwith2cmmarginsoneachside.
• hasnumbered
• usescorrectin-textreferencing(APAorHarvardsystem).
• includesareferencelistwhich iscorrectly formatted(APAorHarvard system)andbeginsonanew