Employee Relations In An Election Year

Date: 08/06/2010

Formerly WorkChoices, Now Fair Work. But the industrial relations scene can still be confusing. And there's another election on the way.

As a Federal Election approaches, the Labor Government's new approach to industrial relations is still in its early days.  The Fair Work Act, replacing WorkChoices, has signalled a move away from individual contracts back to collective bargaining, with a new system of Modern Awards now in place. But some recent decisions of the Fair Work Tribunal, especially around flexible working arrangements, have confused both the main  employer groups and the government. A coalition government after the next election would probably move back towards individual agreements, while developing a stronger worker safeguards than under WorkChoices, while a re-elected Labor government could be expected to come under greater pressure from the unions to go further to reinforce their position.