Analysing the industrial relations pressure in an industry or organisation in Australia - Research Paper Example

? Analysing the industrial relations pressure Table of Contents Industrial Relations Pressure and problem Situations 3 Industry/ organisation 4 Options/solutions/strategies 6 Theory 9 Analysis 11 Reference 14 Bibliography 15 Industrial Relations Pressure and problem Situations The latter half of the twentieth century saw a progression of elite sports in Australia from the amateur and weekend pursuits towards the full time multi-million dollar enterprises. Along with the increasing professionalism in this industry the labour and industrial relations too has begun to resemble the traditional industries in various sectors. The sector has faced constant pressure to provide high wages to these elite players as they have taken up a more serious attitude towards negotiating and bargaining industrial relations issues. Sports are regarded as a lucrative business in which the players’ lifestyles can be determinant of the financial contracts that they can negotiate (Hanley & Rogers, 2004, p.2). Development of the enterprise bargaining (EB) in Australian sports bears relevance to bargaining in Australia. Negotiation occurring between the different parties occurs at the individual as well as the enterprise levels. However, the position of players’ associations as well as the sporting leagues in the bargaining process remains week and demands attention. The professional sporting players associations or unions have a chequered history. Out of thirty three attempts to form the players associations in the professional sports team in Australia only six remain in existence till date. Another important issue in the professional sports sector in Australia is that it is found to be very oppressive in terms of the employees’ labour rights. It is seen that players belonging to the major professional team sports remain strictly restricted by the league mandated labour regulations or industrial relations regulations. On the other hand increasing broadcasting in sports has generated greater public profiles for the elite sports persons in the industry which has consequently made them more aware about the potential of marketing revenues and licensing revenues. Thus the conventional tools used by unions and their members such as strikes, collective claiming of sick leaves, stop work meetings etc have taken precedence. Mobilising of members actually provides unions with the power to use their voice collectively to influence their employers and actions of institutions to benefit the cause of employees (Brooks, Callen, Singh, Felman & Thimann). The players associations particularly use such industrial actions in the same way and have successfully strengthened their positions in the industry which poses threat to this sector. Literature reveals that these associations capacity to engage in such industrial actions actually determines their success in the industry in terms of wages and salaries. These have yielded positive gains for these players in terms of their wages and other conditions of employments (Hanley & Rogers, 2004, p.4). There has been the generation of organizational conflicts in this industry. Common causes of conflicts identified are in terms of revenue sharing, refusal to compromise, welfare of players, and administrative incompetence. The failure to arrive at common objectives by the negotiating parties for the IR processes coupled with the reluctance of such parties to compromise on self interests are identified as two of the major reasons for organizational conflicts in this industry (Hanley & Rogers, 2004, p.5). Industry/ organisation The Australian sports industry has proceeded a long way since the last fifteen years. There are great entry of funds via such avenues as coaching, facility development, sports sciences, national sporting schemes, institute establishments, sport management and talent identification program. Being a relatively new industry in the market, this sector is quite unregulated and is yet to define its boundaries completely. Lack of minimum salary structures, dispute resolution procedures or even work entitlements in the industry are some areas which remained undefined lately. Conditions of coaches, administrative staffs, sports scientists or even employment terms and conditions remain unregulated and loose (Crouch, 1993, p.32). The previous year the Australian Industrial Relations Commissions had been informed of a dispute between the Entertainment and Arts Alliance and the Media with regards to their industrial relations. This dispute resulted in the creation of the Professional Coaching Staff Award 1995. Coaching has dramatically developed as a popular occupation in this industry over the years. This profession has mainly flourished due to the emergence of increasing employment opportunities coupled with increasing focus on coach education. However, unregulated and unfettered IR has resulted in increasing demands of coaches in the industry. Poor administration and politics have ruled this industry for quite some time and improper labour regulations have led to the exploitation of labour even further (Gardner & Palmer, 1997, p.260). The present labour regulations are seen to deteriorate the conditions of employees even further. Unions, whose fundamental objective is to voice the shared interests of workers and constrain managerial prerogatives, are often seen to exploit the workers themselves. This called for a new set of labour regulations which would not only serve to save the interests of workers but also be in the interests of the company. Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s involvement proposed the implementation of awards offering protection towards workers through the basic provision of minimum wages, termination of services; sick payments, redundancies; superannuation, part time and permanent employment; hours of work, overtime; leaves, holidays, meals etc (Rosmalen & McKenzie, 1996, p.6). Options/solutions/strategies The problems persisting in the industry has led to the implementation and modification of various industrial relations regulations. For example, a new guide has been developed for the WA Sports Federation which provides them with a brief overview of pertaining to the key aspects of the new system of industrial relations which was implemented since 2009. This was done through the implementation of the Fair Works Act which provided members with guidelines regarding how they could prepare themselves for the changes (WA Sports Federation, 2009, p.1). The Fair Work Act 2009 implemented by the Federal Government seeks to place a new federal workplace system of relations with special requirements commencing from the 2010. It establishes Fair Work Australia, which is anew and independent institution to monitor and oversee the new National workplace relations system. The existing workplace agencies are merged or amalgamated to generate a new framework which comprises of both “Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman” and “Fair Work Australia” (CCH, 2009, p.436). This body ensures compliance of industrial relations in the sports institutions and at the same time provides advice, information and assistance regarding workplace issues as well (WA Sports Federation, 2009, p.1). The new Federal Workplace relations system applies to all constitutional corporations. It serves the purpose of providing safety coverage to the employees via two parts; namely the new modern awards and the National Employment Standards. The safety net was applied to all employees within the National System since January 2010. Apart from providing the safety net the institution also sets the minimum wages for the employees who are award and agreement free through the national and minimum wage order (Hunt, 1995, p.25). The fundamental growth of this sector to resolve its inherent issues is reflected through the emergence of the “Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance” (Weihart, 2006, p.34) which represents employees and workers existing in the entertainment and arts sector, media and now also includes the sports sector. Besides the above there is also the “Coaches, (Sports) Scientists and Administration Award”. This institution primarily represents the rugby league, soccer and baseball players and also their associations also comprising of a section particularly for the coaches, sports scientists and members in the administration. This section emerged primarily because of the occurrence of a series of events which was responded by claims which were served by the Alliance on National Sports Organizations. Rules and regulations have been particularly formulated for the employment of coaches in the sports industry. It can be regarded as a catalyst towards the industrialization of coaches in Australia, administrative staffs and also sports scientists which is still a process in its infant state. The alliance had an involvement with the elite sector of Australia or the “Australian Institute of Sport” which seemed to provide an alert to all employees in the industry. An extensively widespread sense of disappointment and displeasure regarding the industrial relations existing was taken by this body. The number of memberships rose from 12 to 150 within a span of twelve months and also included members from all states. Some of the most traditional and largest sports such as Lawn bowls and Yachting were also included. Additionally it also included the administrative staffs, national Directors in the institution (Rosmalen & McKenzie, 1996, p.4). The alliance was particularly effective in changing the culture of sports in Australia. Firstly the number of paid employees increased dramatically according to the specified minimum wages standards. In the year 1993, 4.7% of individuals associated with sports either as player or as non player had received payment for their participation in sports. Out of these, 3.9% were associated with such activities as coaching, teaching and instructing. The nature of employments in sports has changed and in recent decades the percentage of paid employees in the sector have risen dramatically (Rosmalen & McKenzie, 1996, p.5). The WA Sports Federation has implemented new laws with regards to unfair dismissal of employees from organizations (WA Sports Federation, 2009, p.3). Employees in the small organizations will not be able to claim for unfair dismissals until they have served a minimum period of employment of twelve months. While for the large organizations the minimum period of employment is six months. A specialist information and assistant unit is present in the “Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman” (WA Sports Federation, 2009, p.3) for providing assistance and advice to the small and medium sized employers considering employee dismissal. The coverage of number of employees who would be able to access the dismissal provisions were expanded considerably under this regulation. Not only did it provide coverage for these employees being treated unfairly their employers, it also provided fruitful and effective advice to the medium and small employers on fair grounds of dismissal of employees. The changes made considerable impact on employers having 15 and 100 employees in their organizations. From the year 2011 the definition of ‘small business’ became less than fifteen equivalent full time employees to serve the purpose of prohibiting unfair dismissal. Since then a head count of all employees are used in the organizations (WA Sports Federation, 2009, p.3). Theory There has been a gradual transformation of social values of citizens prevailing in the modern industrial societies in Australia towards a more collective framework and orientation. Under this change greater emphasis is provided to the self, self interest and personal development. There can be various reasons for these shifts. Some have claimed the influence of increased affluence which has promoted the interest of material possessions (Boreham, Hall & Harley, 2003). The Fair Work Act 2009 implemented by the Federal Government puts great emphasis on the national workplace relations system in Australia. It has been designed in a way which delivers balance in the Australian economy and allows the country to be competitive and prosperous in the international market without taking away the rights of humans and also maintaining the minimum standards. The government of Australia has implemented an independent umpire to oversee and monitor the works of the body. It mainly focuses on the provision of instant and fast assistance to employers and employee (Gollan, 2009, p.261-263). It retains the authority to vary awards, make orders on minimum wages, determine the unfair and unjustified dismissal claims and also make orders on matters such as industrial actions and bargaining and helps employees resolve organizational disputes at the workplace (Australian Government, 2009, p.1). The Fair Work Ombudsman also has an inspectorate head and the Specialist Fair Work Divisions are created by the Federal Courts for hearing matters which arise under the new rules and regulations at the workplace. The new industrial umpire under Fair Work Australia also maintains the minimum wages for agreement-free and award employees and this done through the national order for minimum wages. Ten legislated and employment conditions constituted the National Employment Standards, such as the maximum hours of work in a week, number of public holidays, notice for redundancy pay or termination as well as the rights to request for flexible arrangements for working (Australian Government, 2009, p.2). One of the prominent features of the system is collective bargaining. An enterprise agreement is taken between employers and their employees and it does not require any formal notification for commencing bargaining at the enterprise levels. Generally both parties can agree with the negotiations and begin to bargain successfully with one another for the creation of an enterprise agreement. The system does not distinguish between the union and the non union agreements under this system. Employees have the power to nominate anyone of their choice to represent them and the employer must abide by the choice. However employers must notify their employees about their rights to representation (Australian Government, 2009, p.2). A new attribute of the system is the low paid negotiating stream. This is particularly meant to help employees who had missed out the benefit to bargain in the past. This majorly includes such workers who belong to areas such as child care, security and cleaning, community services. For encouraging the making of agreements the system also retains power in certain circumstances to make a low paid workplace determination for settling matters at the time of bargaining (Bennett, 1994). The system also provides employees with the freedom to be in the union or not to be. It is their choice whether they want to participate in collective activities or not such as bargaining for enterprise agreement or even availing the protective industrial action. It is considered unlawful for an individual to be discriminated against or dismissed for representing their workforce at the place of work during the negotiation of enterprise agreements (Australian Government, 2009, p.5). It also keeps provision for providing balance between work and family lives of workers. The modern enterprise agreements and awards include provisions for making individual flexibility arrangements for both employees and employers such as the creation of family friendly work atmosphere and at the same time provides strong protection for the employees. The National Employment Standards has increased the number of unpaid leaves for parents and also gives them the right to request for extension of their parental leaves. This extension can go up to a period of twelve months. However, employers retain the rights to disallow such leaves ob reasonable and business grounds (Australian Government, 2009, p.4). Australia presently had a workplace regulation and system which covers more than 96% of all employers and employees in the private sector and provides them with equal access to the tribunals and workplace laws, entitlements and rights, minimum conditions irrespective of whether they are sole traders, working in partnerships or working across borders (Wooden, 2000, p.36). Analysis Professional sports in Australia have created a series of employment rules which have diminished both the human rights of players and also reduced economic freedom of thee people. One of the prominent abuse of these rights is the rule which denies players to seek or avail employment opportunities with other clubs even after expiry of contract with the original club. This has increasingly caused these players to form players associations and actions before the courts for the sake of restoring these rights. The increase in commercialism and professionalism in sports in Australia has been primarily been because of the importance of outcomes and structures of the industrial relations in sports in the country. Two of the most crucial developments in this context are enterprise bargaining coupled with the unique conditions in which leagues and players operate or negotiate in the industry. The players’ association structures continues to remain simple which comprises of a small number of staffs who support the CEO on whom rests the responsibilities of negotiations and management issues. The traditional unions and the players associations do have similar work objectives. The only difference between the two is seen because players associations perform such activities in response to the industrial environment in which they operate. Examination of the histories of such players association reveals that rugby unions, soccer or even cricket players have been successful in establishing the collective bargaining agreements. They have also been able to improve and enhance their employment conditions especially pertaining to the employment of full time executives for overseeing operations. There are little doubts about the fact that institutions influencing labour markets in Australia and changes in industrial relations in the country has been influential in development of the sports sector. The club officials and leagues in the various professional teams in the country have implemented various labour market controls which have consequently restricted the income earning capacity and potential of workers and limited their economic freedom too. Initially players had made various attempts to get together and use collective action as a response to these employment problems in their domain; however their pleas were not considered. Moreover these attempts used to be short lived and abortive. It was only after the 1990s that the Australian Players Association could attain some success through unionism (Dabscheck, 1999). The new system has generally strengthened the relationships between employees and employers in this sector considerably. This is largely dependent on the employment contract which includes matters such as hours of work, leaves, pays etc. Strictness in implementation and compliance with regulations has substantially improved the conditions of workers in the industry and strengthened employer and employee relationships further. The Fair Work Act has significantly restored work life balance of employees in this sector. Particularly the flexibility plans which are incorporated which allows individuals to make implement flexibility in their work structures such as working hours etc has been instrumental in improving an strengthening workers’ position in the industry considerably. The National Workplace Relations System applied in the private sector has been effective particularly for the sports domain in Australia. The private sector employees and employers present in the states of New South Whales, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia were originally covered under the workplace relations system of the State are now covered under the Fair Work System in Australia. It is needless to say that the regulation of the industrial relations system in the sports sector has made it more professional and well regulated in the global front. Reference Australian Government. (2009). Australia’s Fair Work system. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.deewr.gov.au/WorkplaceRelations/NewWorkplaceRelations/Documents/FactSheets/FairWorkAct_Overview.pdf. [Accessed on April 05, 2012]. Bennett, L. (1994). Making Labour Law in Australia: Industrial Relations, Politics and Law. Boreham, P., Hall, R. & Harley, B. (2003). Two Paths to Prosperity?: Work Organisation and Industrial Relations Decentralisation in Australia. Journal of Industrial Relations September 1, 2003 45: 292-325. Brooks, R., Callen, T., Singh, A., Felman, J. & Thimann, C. (1998). Australia: Benefiting from Economic Reforms (EPub). International Monetary Fund. CCH. (2010). Australian Fair Work Act: with regulations and rules. CCH Australia Limited. Crouch, C. (1993). Industrial relations and European state traditions. Oxford University Press. Dabscheck, B. (1999). Playing the Team Game: Unions in Australian Professional Team sports. [Online]. Available at: http://jir.sagepub.com/content/38/4/600.short. [Accessed on April 05, 2012]. Gardner & Palmer, G. (1997). Employment Relations. Macmillan Education AU. Gollan, P. J. (2009). Australian industrial relations reform in perspective: Beyond Work Choices and future prospects under the Fair Work Act 2009. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources. Hanley, G. & Rogers, M. (2004). It’s a whole new ball game: Industrial Relations in Australian Sports. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/mgt/research/working-papers/2004/wp35-04.pdf. [Accessed on April 05, 2012]. Hunt, I. (1995). The new industrial relations in Australia. Federation Press. Rosmalen, A. V. & McKenzie, F. (1996). lndustrial Relations: The Changing Landscape for Sport. ASSH Bulletin No. 24. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/ASSH%20Bulletins/No%2024/ASSHBulletin24b.pdf. [Accessed on April 04, 2012]. WA Sports Federation. (2009). The new workplace relations system. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.wasportsfed.asn.au/downloads/The%20new%20workplace%20relations%20system.pdf. [Accessed on April 05, 2012]. Weihart, L. (2006). Entertainment. Career FAQs. Wooden, M. (2000). The transformation of Australian industrial relations. Federation Press. Bibliography Bratton, J. & Gold, J. (2001). Human resource management: theory and practice. Routledge. Gordon, A. (2001). The wages of affluence: labor and management in postwar Japan. Harvard University Press. Harvard Business School Press. (2010). Retaining Employees. Harvard Business Press. Taylor, T. (2000). How you play the game. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.hrca.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/how-you-play-the-game-fin.pdf#page=49. [Accessed on April 05, 2012]. Walker, K. F. (1956). Australian industrial relations systems. Harvard University Press. Read More