Why do some employers have a habit of shooting themselves in the foot in bargaining negotiations with unions and other parties, whilst others do a far better job at keeping in control of their labour costs and employee productivity? We provide some clues.
A recent decision of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has highlighted the difficulty many employers will face if they wish to terminate an expired enterprise agreement – even with the overwhelming support of the majority of the employees covered by the expired agreement.
In a safe and unspectacular decision, a Fair Work Commission (FWC) Full Bench has chosen to take a very safe position on modifying Individual Flexibility Arrangement (IFA)’s in the latest modern award review.
As a consultancy which only represents employers, we sometimes are taken aback by how many companies are ‘being done over’ in enterprise agreement negotiations.
Negotiators use a variety of tactics to achieve a result. However, is the use of “threats” a legitimate negotiating tactic, or just a sign that the person making the threat has run out of options?
Our parent company (ER Strategies Pty Ltd) Director Steve Champion sees the new good faith bargaining requirements as being one of the more important changes introduced by the Fair Work Act , and one that is likely to be seen as a turning point in the Australian Industrial Relations system in years to come.
If you are about to embark on some important enterprise bargaining negotiations and don't know where to start, or alternatively want to think about how you can do it better, you should find our Enterprise Bargaining flowchart of great benefit.
Enterprise agreements under the Fair Work Act? Our question to you would be, "Why do you want to do one?" The cost and aggravation might significantly outweigh the benefits, particularly as uncertainty under the system has grown significantly.
