dcz said:
Assess the impacts of the Governments new Industrial Relations Lesgislation in the determination of labour market outcomes in Australia's contemporary economy.
It's suppose to be 1500 words, but I've only got 3 points so far to write on.
-No disadvatage test
-Establishment of Australian Fair Pay Commission
-Unfair Dismissal Laws
I have a few articles from smh.com.au, any help would be appreciated.
Ok....
Its an assess question so you should put points for and against. So make sure you are balanced in your approach. include both an economic rationalisation perspective (IR reforms = good), and a more compassionate, social perspective (IR reforms = bad). Try to give them equal footing, and then in any kind of concluding statement, which ties them up, and perhaps give a slant towards which side you believe in (in the concluding statement).
You should do two things before you do anything.....
1 Introduce what the IR reforms are about. The main things to talk about are:
- More focus on individual contracts
- Attempts to raise productivty through individual bargaining
- reduction in IRC powers, shifting minimum wage determination to fair pay commission
- Fair Pay Commish guidelines for wage increases governed by sustainability of the wage increase (i.e. so that it doesn't result in unemployment).
- Reduced role of unions and more emphasis on direct employee / employer results.
- reductions in unfair dismissal rules to allow small and medium businesses to hire without fear of hriing dud employees.
2 Define labour market outcomes
- Wages
- working conditions
- augmented factors (job security, job satisfaction etc....)
in identifying the main changes, try not to politicise it. Dont give any spin on it by commenting on it at this stage. Purely give the facts. Perhaps give some history behind them (i.e. extension of workplace relations act). There should be plenty of info. Be less concerned by the particulars (such as all that crap about penalty rates, and technicalities) but more focussed on the economics of it (i.e. flexible wage determination etc).
When identifying labour market outcomes, suggest that they include a wider range of factors and not just wage levels. Theres an article written by ross gittins entitled "happiness findings sure to dismay the economists" that is dated Sept 14th 2002 - SMH. I dont have an online copy to give you, but if you want to track it down it will give you some good material to use. Essentially it says that workers get "utility" out of their jobs, so the wage levels of an employee are not necessarily an indication of their benefit from that job.
Once you've done these two things I would talk about some things like:
- Reasons for reforms - talk about the wage driven recessions of the late 70's and early 80's.
- Talk about the concept of prosperity and how these reforms may* (not necessarily the case, but some are speculating) reduce real wage growth. But then balance this with the notion that this will only occur if the wage rises lead to unemployment, and unemployment is a greater problem that slightly lower wages
- Talk about flexibility, and how this may allow employers to be more willing to hire staff, and to raise productivity as loafing cannot occur. Balance this with the notion of how job insecurity is the sacrifice made, and this impacts on employees (this is where the gittins / utility article would come in handy).
- How wage determination and conditions are organised now (perhaps talk about how some people arent good negotiators, and how employers will apply downward pressure on wages)
- Talk about the 'contemporary aus economy'. Some good things to mention would be how we are currently in a period of low (well zero basically) cyclical unemployment, howevor structural unemployment is still relatively high. So perhaps say that more focus should have been on skills. Then perhaps say how when cyclical unemployment is high, employers may abuse unfair dismissal laws, and cyclical unemployment may grow.
- Also talk about skills shortage and what the IR reforms mean (they dont really do anything about this)
