
Issue No 53		12 May 2000

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

Trades Hall

Neale Towart's Labour Review

More from the crazy world of industrial relations from the Man with the Answers.

The World Is No Longer Flat

The corporate trend in the 1980s and 1990s was for flat management structures. Many took this to mean staff cuts, with the removal of sections of management between the top and the shopfloor. The idea was that this would improve communications and be "more efficient". According to a review by Mike Cowlishaw of 500 Australian companies, this slash and burn did and will not return sustainable savings. Instead, companies are suffering increased staff churn and finding that it costs more to have a flatter management structure. Cowlishaw attributes this to senior management having to be more concerned with day-to-day nuts and bolts issues, rather than having time to focus on strategy and direction. Dissatisfaction sets in and they leave. The solution: adopt a deeper management structure, pay marginally more and get appropriately qualified people, train and encourage junior staff.

(Work Alert; April 2000)

Threat of Legal Action May Constitute Coercion

Penny Csenderits

Four recent decisions by the federal Court have limited the ability of employers to use legal remedies as a response to industrial action taken by unions and employees during a bargaining period. In all four cases, unions sought injunctions to prevent employers from commencing or proceeding with legal action in relation to industrial action taken during a bargaining period. The employers gained certificates under sec 166A of the Workplace Relations Act. In all cases the employers sought the certificates before exhausting all conciliation and arbitration remedies available. The Court's decision indicates that it is proper to infer that the employer, by applying for the certificates, is intending to coerce employees into accepting enterprise agreements which they would not otherwise seek.

The cases concerned the AWU, AMWU and the CEPU and Yallourn Energy; the CFMEU and Multiplex; the CFMEU and the Victorian Master Builders' Assn; and the CFMEU and Mirvac Constructions. See 47 AILR 4-234; 47 AILR 4-227; 47 AILR 4-228

(Australian Industrial Law; newsletter 4, April 2000)

Daily Hire Employee Unfairly Dismissed

The NSW Industrial Relations Commission has ruled that an employee classified by his employer as a casual "daily-hire" employee was really a casual for the purposes of the NSW Industrial Relations Act and consequently was able to bring an unfair dismissal claim. The worker had worked a regular pattern with work on each weekday with few exceptions for a continuous eight month period. After sustaining a work related injury and rehabilitation the employee returned to his previous duties. He was then told he would no longer be offered casual daily employment.

(Australian Industrial Law; newsletter 4, April 2000)

14 Day Time Limit Not Applicable to Severance Pay Claim

The Tasmanian Supreme Court has confirmed that the 14 day limit for applications in the Tasmanian Industrial Commission for termination of employment disputes does not apply where the dispute is only about the amount of severance pay. See 47 AILR15-098

(Australian Industrial Law; newsletter 4, April 2000)

Excavating In NSW

Workcover NSW has released a new code of practice for excavation work. The code is designed as a guide to contractors and operators to identify hazards, assess and control the risks and comply with safety regulations. Failure to observe a relevant code of practice can be used as evidence that a person or company has not complied with the Occupational Health and Safety Act or regulations.

(OHS Alert; vol. 1, issue 4, April 2000)

More Tasks, Less Secure, Working Harder" Three Dimensions of Labour Utilisation

Cameron Allan, Michael O'Donnell and David Peetz

Argues that there have been major changes in labour utilisation methods in Australia: job broadening, employment insecurity and work intensification. These changes are affecting standard core workers and non-standard peripheral workers. They base the analysis partly on the Dept of Workplace Relations surveys of enterprise bargaining, the ACTU stress survey of 1998. Workplaces have downsized, but volumes of work have remained the same or increased dramatically. Monitoring of employees has increased due to technological advances, placing further stress on employees already trying to deal with increasing throughputs and fewer colleagues.

(Journal of Industrial Relations; vol. 41, no. 4, December 1999)

Rethinking 'Regional Industrial Relations': space, place and the social relations of work

Bradon Ellem and John Shields

Decentralised modes of industrial relations are cracking under the strain of deregulation and globalisation. Capital is increasingly mobile. A renewed interest in regional industrial relations is developing, but an interest informed by the work of radical economic geographers. They argue that local labour markets are the intersection between production and reproduction and the primary focus of attention of local modes of labour regulation. Capital is increasingly mobile across space, whilst labour, as David Harvey notes, has to go home every night.

(Journal of Industrial Relations; vol. 41, no. 4, December 1999)

Equal Pay: Is the Pendulum Swinging Back?

A.C. Preston and G.V. Crockett

The more deregulated the industrial relations system the greater the gender inequality, reflecting the fact that women occupy a greater share of the low wage occupations and, relative to men, are in a weaker bargaining position. This illustrated by a comparison of Australian states with the gender pay gap in W.A and Victoria wider than in NSW by over 4%.

(Journal of Industrial Relations; vol. 41, no. 4, December 1999)

Employees Benefits: types and how many get them.

Non-wage benefits received by employees, other than superannuation and various leave entitlements, are becoming slightly more common according to an ABS survey.

Free goods and services, or discounts on these, are received by 17.5% of all full and part time employees (up from 17.1% in 1994). Almost 15% receive a transport benefit, be it a car or an allowance (not much changed). Telephone benefits are part of the packages of 9.7% of employees (up from 7.9% in 1994). 2.5% have fees for trade union membership or professional association membership paid (down slightly). The lack of progress on the child care front is illustrated by the 0.3% of employees who receive a benefit in this area or assistance with education (this is a slight decrease from 1994). Study leave is received by 3.5% of employees, up from 3.2% in 1994.

The survey shows that various leave entitlements received are actually down since 1994. Holiday leave is received by 71.9% of employees, down from 76.6% in 1994. Sick leave is received by 72%, down from 76.6%.

(Australian Bureau of Statistics. Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership Australia, August 1999. Catalogue no. 6310.0)

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Issue 53 contents

Interview: The Fruitful Shaw
After ten years in Parliament, NSW Industrial Relations Minister Jeff Shaw looks at some mountains still to be climbed.

Politics: Budget in Reply
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley replies to the Federal budget and paints Labor's alternative vision for the future.

Economics: Petition to Move a Mountain
A child born in Zambia or Tanzania or Bolivia owes more to international creditors than she or he will ever earn in a lifetime.

International: Solidarity in a Cold Climate
After an overnight bargaining marathon, Norway's unions have secured most of their main demands and have now ended their nationwide strike.

Health: Workers Health Centre Comes of Age
In 2001, the Workers Health Centre will celebrate its 25th anniversary, making it the longest running independent trade union based health and safety service in the country.

History: A Tribute to the Fallen
A Canadian tractor operator is seeking help to produce a book on monuments to people killed in the workplace.

Satire: Ralph Web Ring Busted
Following the dismissal of 27 Telstra employees last week for downloading hardcore pornography on their work computers, Ralph magazine sacked five employees yesterday for downloading positive images of women.

Review: Waterfront - Through the Reporters' Eyes
Fairfax journalists Helen Trinca and Anne Davies have skillfully transformed the waterfront war into the sort of thriller that any self-respecting Hollywood mogul would reject for being too wild to be true.

» Costello Backs National GST Pay Claim

» Conference Call: Support the NSW Way

» Games Rail Service in Limbo

» Shaw Moves on Email Protection

» Salami Reform: Reith Chops Up the Nasties

» Advocate in Trouble Over Rural Sackings

» Unionists take to Streets for May Day 2000

» Shareholders Rattle Rinto Tinto Cage

» Joy Dispute Widens With Midnight Run

» Employers Fail to Defy History

» Indonesian Labor Educator Reports to Local Unions

» Big Drum-Up This Wednesday