Australian Industrial Relations Commission †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About the Australian Industrial Relations Commission? Answer: Introduction The Fair Work Act 2009 introduced the Fair Work Commission that started its operations on 1 July 2009 (Fair Works commission, 2017). The Fair Work Commission has been formed to operate as a successor of Australian Industrial Relations Commission. The functions of the department include fixating many factors such as industrial awards, minimum wage, resolving disputes, claim handling and enterprise agreements. The aim of the body is to formulate an organized system that can regulate industrial relations in Australia. The authority and control of the body extends to setting minimum wages, approval of business agreements, tribunal awards, resolving disputes among the employees, evaluating the agreements through tests and handling industrial bargaining and actions. BOOT is better off overall test that is being conducted by the Fair Work Commission in order to approve the agreement between employers and employees within an industry. The agreement lays out the terms and conditions that are to be followed by both employees and employers at the workplace. Aim The large organizations try to exploit employees in order to reduce the price of their products and offer the highest level of services to their consumers. This results in the harassments and oppression of the employees that could have severe consequences on the mental and physical health of the workers. Discrimination is one of the most common activities that have been witnessed in many of supermarket stores and retail stores and reason for that is the innocent and gullible foreign workers fall prey to the employers of elephantine organization and then suffer under harsh working conditions. The aim of the report is to analyze the concept of BOOT in an industry through the cases of Coles Supermarket and HM. The cases of Coles and HM would be analyzed in order to understand the significance of BOOT within the industry and workplace. The study of the report is limited to the country of Australia and would not consider the impact of the agreement outside the country. Scope According to the Fair Work Act of 2009, the Commission would only approve the agreement if every award of the agreement satisfies the Commission. The Coles Supermarket was faced with the challenge of one of its agreement being rejected by the commission regarding the wages paid to the employees (Mare Forsyth, 2016). The agreement received a great response from most of the employees of the Coles. The agreement was rejected on the grounds that it did not cover every aspect of employee award and some conditions were more advantageous and some conditions were less favorable as compared to the award (Tredwell, 2016). Now the Fair Work Commission raised the concern that the agreement failed better off overall test. Another giant Swedish retail chain has been facing the same challenge. The company covered around 1200 employees under the agreement and was paying them even less than the minimum wages as per the industry standards (Hannan, 2017). Another slander faced by the giant retail chain was the clause of working hours for the employees and the Commission waved it off (Marin-Guzman, 2017). The organization has been consistently thriving to satisfy the commission and approve its agreement under the better off overall test. The Ship Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) has been trying to negotiate over the agreement to develop a new deal that offers fair work pay and favorable working conditions for the employees. Thus, the report would make an attempt to analyze the concept of BOOT by discussing its pros and cons for both the organizations. Concept and Definition The business agreements are created for the employees and employers at an industrial level. The guidelines that prescribe the conduct and behavior of the employees are being decided by the Fair Work Commission that is called collective agreement. The Fair Work Commission of Australia is responsible for conveying the complete gathered data related to the process of decision making in a business. The Fair Work Commission of Australia evaluates the gathered information effectively in order to pass the proposal that has been developed by the Fair Work Commission of Australia. Another major role of Fair Work Commission is to handle the disputes arising between employers and employees regarding the terms and conditions that have been proposed in the agreement. These types of agreements are being created when one or more employers are involved and there are more than two employees in the organization. The enterprise agreement provides assurance that all the terms and conditions of employmen t have been met by the industry including minimum wages and award of industry. The FWC has the complete authority to amend any laws of the agreement as per the requirement of the organization or the industry. The Fair Work Commission has created terms and conditions that encompasses the following components: Ensuring minimum wages of the employees. Providing healthy work conditions including feasible number of hours, proper lunch breaks and overtime allowance to the employees. Consultative proceedings. Effective management of the disputes within an enterprise or industry. The authority must present reasonable arguments for deducting the salaries of the employees in case it is done deliberately (Westacott, 2017). The Fair Work Commission is responsible for ensuring that the employees within an industry are not being exploited or oppressed and do not face the problem of discrimination within the organization (Fair Work, 2017). The body is responsible for formulating agreement that protects the rights of employers and employees. Once the agreement for the business has been formulated, it has to go through an approval process that is decided on the basis of type of agreement as being developed by the FWC. An agreement could be of three types including single enterprise agreement, Greenfield agreements and multi enterprise agreement. Single Enterprise Agreements A single agreement could have involved one or more than one employers (Fair Work, 2017). This could be illustrated by the example of franchise in which cooperation is of utmost concern. Now these employers have single minded interest according to the fair work commission of Australia. Multi Enterprise Agreements Multi enterprise agreements are being developed with the intention of involving two or more employers (Fair Work, 2017). The employers are not focused towards a single interest and also have diversified opinions on the prescribed conditions of the industrial tribunal. Greenfield Agreements Greenfield agreements concept is derived from multi enterprise agreements and single enterprises agreements (Fair Work, 2017). A new enterprise or occupations is being formed here and the employers aim to develop the purpose of the organization before they hire the employees. The Fair Work Commission approves the formulated agreement through the bargaining and negotiation process. The FWC takes strict measures during the approval of the process to ensure that all the terms and conditions have been understood by the employer. The employer must also be able to visualize the impact of the terms and conditions that have been proposed by the body. Further, the agreement must be presented to the employees after the employers have shown their consent of the agreement (McPhail, Jerrard, Southcombe, 2015). An agreement could include the guidelines that determine the relationship of the employer and employees. The agreement also deals with the situations that could have an impact on the relationship of employer and employees. It covers the issue of salary deduction that has been deliberately carried out by an authority. Benefits of BOOT The BOOT protects the rights of the employees by ensuring the following factors: Minimum Wages: The employees are entitled to receive minimum wages when they are working for any organization. The employers tend to deliberately offer wages less than the minimum wages to the employees to increase their profitability. The BOOT test conducted by Fair Commission of Australia ensures that the employees are entitled to minimum wages in the industry and are not being exploited by the employers. Employees have the right to receive minimum wages when they are working for any organization and these rights must be protected. Thus, the Fair Work Commission sets the appropriate terms and conditions for the employers that prohibits them from depriving the employees from their basic human rights by ensuring fair work pay system in the organization. The bench of Fair Commission rejected the agreement of Coles on the basis of that it did not benefit the workers financially and deprived them off their basic human rights of fair pay. Healthy Work Conditions: The employees have the complete right to receive favorable work conditions that do not affect their health. The large organizations such as Coles and HM employee the employees under the illusion of giving them all the facilities along with healthy work environment. Thus, in such a scenario, Fair Work Commission become active though its condition that the employees are entitled to work under favorable work conditions and prescribed the maximum limit of working hours so as to not harm the health of the workers. The employees also have the right to receive timely lunch breaks and tea breaks from their prescribed duties. Further, in case the employees work beyond a certain time limit then they are entitled for the overtime allowances. One of the agreement proposed by HM was dismissed by the President of Fair Work Commission on the grounds that it did not provide the workers with the sufficient break time and also did not contain any clause for overtime allowance (SDA, 2017). Consultative Proceedings: The process protects the rights of the employees through a defined process that enables the employees to present themselves in a dispute. When Coles did not include this factor in its agreement, it was dismissed by the full bench of Fair Work Commission (Winckworth, 2016). Conflict Management: A dispute is likely to arise within an organization that could create chaos among the employees. This has a huge impact on the productivity of the organization and also influences the environment of the workplace. Thus, the Fair Work Commission aims to resolve any disputes that could possible arise at the workplace. The body ensures that the issue is being handled effectively through mutual understanding among the employees. Coles did not include this clause in its agreement for which the complete agreement was rejected by the Commission (Winckworth, 2016). Deliberate Deductions: The employers sometime deliberately deduct the wages of the employees. According to the rulings of the Fair Work Commission, if authority intentionality deducts the basic salary of the employee, then he/she has to present reasonable argument for the same. When Coles proposed agreement failed to provide any clause stating this condition, it was dismissed by the bench of Commission (Winckworth, 2016) Thus, the BOOT aims to protect the rights of the employers and employees and bring both the parties on a common platform by laying out terms and conditions that are agreed by both parties. It also provides security to the gullible workers that would have been otherwise exploited by the employers. Concerns With BOOT In spite of strict approval process being developed by the Fair Work Commission, there are some glitches of better off overall test. The test fails to consider the certain scenarios due to which those agreements are also being passed by the Fair Work Commission that do not aim to provide protection to the rights of the employees. The real life examples of Coles Supermarket and HM retail chain have been illustrated in order to gain an insight of the challenges that the test poses for the workers. Recently, one of the deals of Coles was approved by the Fair Work Commission that had a huge impact on the lives of about forty three thousand employees. The deal simply approved the clause of paying wages below the minimum level to around forty thousand workers (Collier, 2016). The Commission was misled by a statutory declaration and then reviewed the deal for closure examination. According to the sources, Coles has been slandered with underpaying its workforce by an amount of approximately $100 million every year (Collier, 2016). Further, the retail chain has also been able to save itself from the complaints about penalty rates. The Coles have been criticized for its double facet statements. The agreement of the company did not cover the award for all the employees and it was discovered after an interview with the employees. Further, Shoppies union has also been supporting the Coles through its diplomatic statements. The union also claimed that the Commission would be using the test through a new methodology. This is completely preposterous as the test is always applied for every worker and not for a workforce. The organizations are never allowed to give the excuse that some workers are being paid higher than minimum wages and the rest would be paid below the minimum wages (Collier, 2016). The above concern has affected the lives of numerous workers who are being paid an amount lesser than the minimum wages at Coles. Instead of simply canceling the deal, the Commission has been trying to clarify its decision to approve the test that was not favorable for the workers. HM has also been found to be involved with dodgy deals with the Fair Work Commission in terms of claiming that its terms and conditions pass better off overall test. The giant retail chain has been thriving to increase its profit by reducing its cost of products. The company has been alleged with a track record of unethical behavior (Amieu Newcastle, 2017). SDA has completely supported the mammoth retail chain to continue its underpaying policy for the workers. The company has also been accused of providing unfavorable conditions for the employees due to which many have even died. Fair Work Commission was able to assess the components of HMs agreement quite later to find out that the company does not abide by major of the tests components. Recommendations After investigating the case studies of Coles HM, it can be construed that the Fair Work Commission needs to bring forth some necessary changes that offer mutual consent among the employers and employees so that the employers are also not being pressurized by the terms and conditions of the Commission. The proposed recommendation for the Commission is that they should try to incorporate flexibility terms for an industry or occupation. The flexibility term would encourage to form an agreement that emphasize on the individual needs of employers and employees (Fair Work, 2017). The flexibility term would enable an employee to give the freedom to be able to meet the needs of employee as per the requirement of the situation. Thus, the agreement would now consider the genuine need of the employer. Flexible terms and conditions would encourage the employers to create more fair terms and conditions that provide favorable working conditions and fair work pay for the employees. The employers would not pretend anymore that the components of their agreement pass the better off overall test. Instead they would try to make sure that they strictly follow the prescribed terms and conditions of the body and do deliberately violate any laws of Commission. Conclusion The report has successfully analyzed the concept of BOOT by discussing the case studies of Coles and HM. In the case it was found that the large and giant retail chains often pretend that they adhere to the laws and policies of Fair Work Commission. After scrutinizing the cases of Coles and HM, the companies have been found to incorporate policies that goes against the major policies of the body. Coles and HM were found to underpay their simpleton workers deliberately with the aim to increase their profitability by reducing their overall cost. Coles was also found to not provide adequate lunch breaks to the workers and had very unfair and unethical policies that violated the rights of workers. Thus, the report specifically illustrated the role of Fair Work Commission in the approval of the agreements of these retail chains. Flexibility terms and conditions was the proposed recommendations for the Commission through which reform and amendments could be made and the conditions of these workers could be improved. References Amieu Newcastle. (2017). SDA Welcomes Fashion Retailer HM To Australia By Surrendering Wages And Conditions. Retrieved from: https://newcastle.amieu.asn.au/sda-hm-wages-conditions/ Collier, G. (2016). Coles looks like new Cleanevent and workers look the losers. The Australian. Retrieved from: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/grace-collier/coles-looks-like-new-cleanevent-and-workers-look-the-losers/news-story/046badcd570a41f5e14a0b4effa80ce5 Fair Work. (2017). Use of individual flexibility arrangement. Retrieved from: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/how-we-will-help/templates-and-guides/best-practice-guides/use-of-individual-flexibility-arrangements Fair Works commission. (2017). Fair Work Commission. Retrieved from: https://www.australia.gov.au/directories/australia/fwc. Hannan, E. (2017).Swedish fashion giant gets BOOT from FWC. Retrieved from: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/industrial-relations/swedish-fashion-giant-gets-boot-from-fwc/news-story/4104185a3defd23942bbabd363adda51 Mare, N.L., Forsyth, A. (2016). The Coles Agreement Decision And What It Means For Enterprise Bargaining. Retrieved From: Http://Www.Corrs.Com.Au/Publications/Corrs-In-Brief/The-Coles-Agreement-Decision-And-What-It-Means-For-Enterprise-Bargaining/ Marin-Guzman, D. (2017). HM penalty rates trade-off refused amid retail expansion. Retrieved from: https://www.afr.com/news/policy/industrial-relations/hm-penalty-rates-tradeoff-refused-amid-retail-expansion-20170117-gtsy7g Tredwell, K. (2016). Major Australian retailer struggles to give employees better off overall under new agreement. Retrieved from: https://www.hallandwilcox.com.au/major-australian-retailer-struggles-to-give-employees-better-off-overall-under-new-agreement/ McPhail, R, Jerrard, MSouthcombe, A. (2015). Employment relations: an integrated approach. Australia: Cengage Learning. SDA. (2017). SDA Successfully Opposes unfair HM Agreement. Retrieved from: https://www.sda.org.au/sda-successfully-opposes-unfair-hm-agreement/ Westacott, J. (2017). Enterprise bargaining on the brink. Retrieved from: Australian Financial Review. Winckworth, J. (2016). Coles the BOOT needs to fit all feet (not just the majority). Retrieve from: https://www.claytonutz.com/knowledge/2016/august/coles-the-boot-needs-to-fit-all-feet-not-just-the-majority