Essay question
Employer associations have been advocating for the reduction of penalty rates listed in Modem Awards. The Fair Work Commission will have decided its major 'Penalty Rates case' in response to employer association arguments early in 2017. In your essay, firstly, analyse the advocacy of at least two employer associations around penalty rates in terms of their positon, reasoning and evidence; and, secondly, evaluate the implications of any reductions in penalty rates for employment growth and income equality.
Background
200300 Managing People at Work introduced you to employers' interests around the management of work and the employment relationship.
In Enterprise Industrial Relations, we are asking you to go further, to look at employers' preferences for the regulation of work and the employment relationship so they can best pursue those interests. That is, what do employers want from an industrial relations system? Is it about cost-cutting and managerial prerogative?
Does the current IR system encourage good HRM and high-performance work systems that underpin economic efficiency?
Employer associations and trade unions use rhetoric ('spin') and ambit (IR jargon that means asking for more than you reasonably expect to get) to influence their members, tribunals, governments, and voters. This assignment invites you to dig below the surface of statements via a stakeholder analysis.
Submission requirement
Be about 1,500 words.
Be written in essay-format.
Include an assignment cover sheet (a Microsoft Word template will be available from vUWS).
Acknowledge sources correctly using the Harvard referencing style.
Show understanding of a six scholarly or otherwise credible sources.
Show knowledge of the position of at least two employer associations from primary sources. A 'primary source' is something produced by that employer association; ie. a speech, a media appearance, a media release, a report, a submission, a webpage, etc.
Include critical analysis (for a credit or better).
Have been compared to the marking criteria below.