Australian Workplace Rights - Essay Example

Introduction The research deals with the issue of whether work place rights are family friendly in Australia. In this regard various reputed journals, newspapers and government documents were examined. The objective of this research is to establish that despite the existence of legislation by the Federal government, there is no proper implementation, which has resulted in rigid and inflexible ways of working. This has caused a great deal of suffering to the children of working parents. It has also been very troublesome for single working mothers and disabled or sick children. Further, the population has shown a drastic reduction due to these practices. The scope of the paper is concerned with the description of family friendly agreements and various journal articles that deal with the issues of work hours, working on weekends, fall in birth rates, difficulties faced by the children of working mothers, etc. Due to the paucity of time and space, it has not been possible to explore this subject at a much greater depth, nevertheless, the main contentious issues have been addressed. Synopsis This research endeavours to establish that despite the government’s various pieces of legislation in respect of work place rights, the situation has not shown much improvement. In this context, the available literature on this topic had been perused. Further, a reference had been made to journal and newspaper articles, government documents, etc. The stance of the government is that the situation has improved considerably, whereas the reality is otherwise and reveals that the situation is going from bad to worse. If the situation is not addressed on a war footing, then there could be a severe reduction in Australia’s population. The need of the hour is to strictly implement the extant legislation. Background Research This research was conducted by referring to a variety of sources like reputed periodicals and newspapers. In addition, the literature review available on this subject had been examined. Analysis of the issue Over a period of thirty years, Australia has obtained the dubious distinction of being the only country with high incomes, where working hours are not only very long but also where work takes place during nights and on weekends. This has had a very serious impact on the family life of Australians. The health of many employees has been adversely affected due to this work culture. Family relations are at an all time low and children have to deal with bad tempered parents whose decisions are unpredictable (Wade, 2007). Such extreme working hours has become universal and twenty percent of the workforce work for at least fifty hours a week. Further, the number of employees who are compelled to work on weekends is around thirty percent and two million people work on Sundays. There is no system of compensation for these extra hours of work on the weekends (Wade, 2007). The three decade old era of material prosperity in Australia, has a dismal side to it, namely the extensive damage caused to personal relationships. In general the government has tended to ignore the relation between these extreme working hours and the poor quality of relationships. The general opinion was that the politicians had to resolve these issues pertaining to working hours in order to prevent a socio – economic backlash from the populace due to dissatisfaction and to establish a secure society (Wade, 2007). Moreover, the birth rate in Australia has almost reached its nadir. This is due to the extreme work pressures and lack of time, which has forced women to have either one child or not to have any children at all. The gravity of the problem can be gauged from the fact that the government may be compelled to increase the retirement age, because of the shortage of employees due to the fertility crisis (Masters & Vermeer, 2004). In the 1960s the birth rate was 3.5 babies per woman, but the same rate in now 1.7. Data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics has disclosed that the number of babies being born does not replace the parents and this situation has been present from three decades. In several Sydney schools fifty percent of the classes were populated by children. The assumption had always been that women would accord the highest priority to bearing and rearing children. The reality has been otherwise, and most young women are either unwilling to have children or only one child (Masters & Vermeer, 2004). Dr. Kippen, who is a demographer with the Australian National University, opined that Australia’s population would show a drastic decrease unless fertility rates or number of immigrants were increased. The Australian Federal Government announced an award of three thousand Australian dollars to mothers, in order to reverse this dangerous trend. However, this measure did not have any significant impact. The requirement is to change the policies that relate to work and the family (Masters & Vermeer, 2004). In this context, Professor McDonald of the ANU stated that fertility rates would increase only if beneficial and good family and work policies were implemented. He also suggested that the working year should be reduced to forty – four weeks from the present forty – eight weeks. However, he considered the lack of proper child care to be one of the main causes for this reduction in fertility (Masters & Vermeer, 2004). Another reason for the reduction in fertility is the changing cost of housing. Since, families are unsure as to the amount of money that they would have to provide for housing, they tend to conserve their financial resources with the result that there is a reluctance to have children. Moreover, breakdown of relationships is on the increase and this has led to the production of children only after marriage. In general, only women above thirty – five are having babies (Masters & Vermeer, 2004). A leading social worker Les Twentyman, who works for Open Family Australia, stated that the government had not adopted measures to help single mothers. Such persons were compelled to return to work when their children needed them the most. The tax advantages bestowed upon them were paltry and the real tax benefits had been apportioned by the wealthy. He was of the opinion that the Government had failed to provide vocational training to children who left school early; so that they could obtain gainful employment (Work push puts pressure on kids, 2005). A family – friendly agreement can be defined as an agreement that was created in order to allow employees to coordinate their work and family responsibilities. Provisions of an agreement would pertain to a wide range of aspects such as comfortable working conditions, which may include flexible working hours, possibility to work from home, provision of leave availability or time off, paid parental leave and other arrangements for child care support. The agreement may include training and other career improvement opportunities to part – time workers (The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, The Hon. Kevin Andrews MP , 2006). Since most of employees are women and parents who work full time, part time or in casual jobs, the government of Australia acknowledged the fact that the provision of family –friendly working environment was very important. Therefore, it recommended flexible working conditions that would enable them to maintain a balance between employment and domestic responsibilities (The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, The Hon. Kevin Andrews MP , 2006). In June 1996, the percentage of parents in the work force was 75.3%, which increased to 77.7% by June 2005. This increase is due to the enhanced participation of single parents and women in normal families. The number of mothers having children increased from 61.2 per cent to 66.2 per cent during that period. The proposed government’s reforms with regard to workplace relations, WorkChoices, were in force from 27 March 2006. These reforms protect the interests of Australian workers having domestic responsibilities with flexibilities and workplace arrangements (The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, The Hon. Kevin Andrews MP , 2006). The reforms provide statutory protection to employees at the time of entering an employment agreement. Employees are conferred with a safety net which offers a set of important minimum conditions that include leave entitlements such as parental leave and personal leave arrangements, and a guarantee of the maximum working hours. They bestow the employees with minimum wage requirements according to the Australian Fair Pay and Condition Standard. This allows employees to bargain with their employers in order to ensure flexible family friendly claims which may be higher than the Australian Fair Pay and Condition Standard (The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, The Hon. Kevin Andrews MP , 2006). The Australian government’s workplace relations reforms provide a friendlier atmosphere for both employees and employers to discuss terms regarding workplace agreements that incorporate a family – friendly working environment. Negotiating at the workplace level is advantageous to employees as it allows them to decide as to what are the best suited arrangements that will enable them in a greater way to maintain coordination between work and domestic considerations (The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, The Hon. Kevin Andrews MP , 2006). According to the statistics of Child Care Survey, June 2005, 43.6 per cent of working mothers were benefited with flexible arrangements, 35 per cent are using permanent part – time work and 17 per cent have been working from home (The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, The Hon. Kevin Andrews MP , 2006). Seventy – five percent of the work place agreements in Australia do not incorporate the family – friendly work provisions. Data collected by the Office of the Employment Advocate, reveals that a fourth of the work place agreements contain family friendly work arrangements like flexible working hours and job sharing arrangements (Davis, 2007). Recommendations Since the past twenty years a number of momentous changes have occurred to the arrangement of family life and employment in Australia. The majority of children belong to parents who are both employed and there has been a dramatic increase in the number of such households. There has been a general increase in working hours and the work schedules are not uniform. There has been an increase in the average number of hours put in by full – time employees. Most of the Australian fathers have to work for very long in full – time jobs and several grandparents have been forced to assume caring roles. A significant number of such grandparents are also employed, either as full – time or part – time workers. The fact that workplace rights are not family friendly, matters to a great extent, because this leads to a reduction in the population. Further, children do not obtain the amount of parental care and attention that is required. It has to be borne in mind that a large number of sick children have to be left home alone. In addition, people who are carers require jobs that provide flexible working hours. Moreover, sufficient leave has to be granted to carers and parents, so that they can attend their children’s schools and meet medical appointments, to name a few of the several duties that a parent has to discharge. The solution to this problem lies in ensuring that the work place agreements are strictly followed. The number of working hours per week has to be reduced to a reasonable level. Similarly, the number of weeks for which employees have to work per year has to be reduced. Employees should not be made to work on weekends and holidays. The government had introduced the fairness test, which is applicable from the 7th of May 2007. It should be ensured that this test is properly implemented and all employees should be provided information in this respect. List of References Davis, M. (2007, April 18). AWAs not so family – friendly, data show. The Sydney Morning Herald . Masters, C., & Vermeer, T. (2004, July 25). MATP. Sunday Telegraph , p. 10. The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, The Hon. Kevin Andrews MP . (2006, September). Work and Family . Retrieved May 6, 2007, from The importance of workplace flexibility in promoting balance between work and family : http://www.workplace.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/B2C6416 Wade, M. (2007, March 6). How work is killing the family. The Sydney Morning Herald , p. P. 1. Work push puts pressure on kids. (2005, May 12). The Courier – Mail , p. 17. Read More