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Two labour-market variables, wages and hours, are used to review the gender relations record of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and its predecessors. This review informs an assessment of what features of Commission practice and capacity should and can be replicated by Fair Work Australia. Arbitration has been most decisive for women in paid work when it has enjoyed national and industry distribution. Advances in equal pay and leave linked to reproduction are two relevant examples, although these advances have been confronted more recently by frailties in federal gender pay equity regulation and policy shifts to enterprise and individual bargaining. The findings suggest an agenda for Fair Work Australia, notwithstanding the possibilities and limitations posed by the Fair Work Act 2009 and the tendency for changes to the gender contract to be highly contested.

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In examining the changing role of the national tribunal in recent decades, this article explores the ways in which industrial relations changes that employer associations have sought in the past 25 years are reflected in the Fair Work Act 2009, and the implications of these for the role of Fair Work Australia. The article argues that the evolution of industrial law in Australia since the mid-1980s owes much to the collective efforts of employers, not only to reorient political opinion concerning collective bargaining and the conciliation and arbitration system, but also to achieve concrete changes to the legal framework governing industrial relations institutions and processes. To explore the implications of these changes for the role of the tribunal, we apply Perlman's typology of the tribunal's work, which identifies three main roles - including judicial, legislative and facilitative functions. The analysis concludes that while under contemporary industrial law the tribunal now has less work to do in these areas, the Fair Work Act has expanded the tribunal's role in policing bargaining behaviour. Although this policing role has intensified the tribunal's influence on union industrial action, it has also focused attention on employer conduct in bargaining, an outcome that employer groups had not sought when lobbying for change.

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The gig economy is characterised by the increasing number of people moving away from traditional employment models in favour of undertaking freelance work. Digital platforms allow freelancers to swiftly connect with employers to find more assignments, market their skills, manage various clients and accept secure payments. The gig economy continues to reshape the relationship between workers and businesses. This paper from the Australian Industry Group provides an overview of the gig economy, why it is important, the implications and benefits for industry, and ways in which industry can harness its potential.

The paper suggests that the key change for industry will be the increased fluidity of the workforce and the implications this has for company structure and hiring. Companies will need to embrace this growing labour trend in order to remain competitive. They will require new technology, tools and processes to maximise the benefits it carries. Independent contractor work streams are set to become a fundamental component of talent strategies, and will bring about disruption and innovation in the labour economy. Potential benefits includes a flexible and dynamic workforce, wider access to talent, an increase in productivity, and value for smaller companies who experience fluctuating periods of activity. However, businesses need to understand and evaluate the workplace relations and other risks associated with embracing the gig economy.

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The National Survey of Employers (NSE) is an annual survey of New Zealand employers. The NSE monitors labour market, immigration, and employment matters to improve the evidence base for evaluating policy and answering contemporary policy questions. The survey includes questions on topics such as: job vacancies and skills needs; use of trial periods; employment relations and workplace practices; minimum wages; health and safety - system, practices and perspectives; and employing migrant staff. The NSE 2012/13 interviewed 1,529 New Zealand employers between October 2012 and March 2013. The report of the survey is contained in the following documents: a summary findings report; an appendix describing the survey methodology; and an appendix presenting the survey results in tables.

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In three parts, using Australian examples, this paper reviews the intersection between trade unions and vocational education and training (VET). Part one considers the global and Australian contexts of the union-VET relationship by explicating the economic and social interests that influence it. Part two identifies the three principal methods used by Australian unions to promote access to VET: political lobbying and affiliation; collective bargaining; and the direct provision of training services. Part three examines the impact that changes in Australia's industrial laws from the 1980s onwards have had on Australian unions' capacity to promote access to VET.

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The OECD produces annual reviews of Member and selected non-Member countries’ economies. Each issue provides an analysis of developments in the subject country, special reports on topics of current interest, and extensive statistical information. This 2006 economic survey of Australia presents a comprehensive overview of the Australian economy and contains a special feature on fiscal relations across levels of government. The survey is presented in the following sections: The short-term challenge: riding the commodities rollercoaster; Long-term structural challenges; Fiscal relations across levels of government; The need for further reforms to infrastructure services; Reforming industrial relations; Improving incentives to work. The survey concludes that a series of structural reforms and the introduction of a robust macroeconomic framework have ensured Australia’s stability during recent testing economic times. These reforms have also boosted productivity and living standards. The challenge will be to sustain this performance, particularly in the face of population ageing, which will require progress in the following areas: improving fiscal relations across levels of government; boosting productivity growth; and raising labour market flexibility and supply.

The 2004 survey is indexed at TD/TNC 81.362, the 2002-2003 survey at TD/TNC 73.418 and the 2000-2001 survey at TD/TNC 67.126. Show less

By the 1890s, factory methods had encouraged looseness or avoidance of apprenticeship contracts. The improver system, under which employers were not responsible for teaching, flourished. Youths grew up insufficiently skilled to command full tradesman’s pay, thus threatening adult jobs and wages. In 1896, following anti-sweating agitation, wages boards were established to determine minimum rates and maximum numbers of juveniles in certain seriously exploited trades. By 1900, this system was extended to other trades, but the minimum duration of apprenticeship contracts was set at only one year. Because employers resented limitation, wages boards in 1903 lost the power to fix the proportion of apprentices; but in compensation an apprentice was redefined as one bound to be taught for at least three years. Nevertheless, without adequate means of training, adequate definition of trade skills, or an adequate tribunal, the situation remained unsatisfactory. Trade classes were developed to supplement workshop experience, but they had little effect.

In 1907 a conference recommended that an Apprenticeship Commission take control of certain skilled trades and establish the numbers to be admitted as apprentices, their wages, and the goals and methods of their training, including technical education. Improvers would be excluded from those trades. Although wages boards gained power to prescribe indentures in 1909, and regained their limitation powers in 1910 when Bills to establish a Commission were presented in 1911 and 1912, both the form of the proposals and the antagonism of employers resulted in their rejection. A second conference in 1911 recommended that apprenticeship be left to the wages boards. Between 1911 and 1921, the Federal Arbitration Court improved apprenticeship conditions in some trades; the technical school system developed its capacity, especially in preparatory work; and a Repatriation Training Scheme adopted organisational machinery similar to that proposed in 1907.

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This paper examines the determinants of job-related training and workplace voice. Using data from a unique 2016 cross-national survey of Australian, British, Canadian and American employees, the paper contrasts two classic formulations in the literature; (1) the neoclassical/human capital approach which predicts that individual characteristics (such as age and education) which increase the efficiency of learning, will have the largest impact on the allocation of training (i.e. younger and more educated employees will be afforded training) and (2) the traditional institutional approach which favors the structural characteristics present at the industry and firm level, the nature of the job itself and the strategic choices of firms as the major predictors of job-related training.

We find that age - a key factor in the human capital model - plays a significant role in the allocation of training but that education (in keeping with recent evidence) does not. In sum the human capital model provides, at best, only a partial explanation for the differences in training observed across individuals. In contrast, variables invoked by the institutional literature (i.e. occupation level; industry; ownership type; and market structure) are highly significant and account for a much greater proportion of the variance in training observed across workers. Other institutional factors such as the presence of a union and a human resource department were strong positive predictors of job-related training. But most important were product-market strategy and employee voice. Respondents working in firms utilizing a 'high road/high quality' product/service strategy and with a workplace consultative committee were significantly more likely to receive training than similar workers employed in observably similar firms. This last finding supports the industrial relations view of voice as an important channel by which training is optimally delivered inside the firm.

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In July 2010 an Expert Panel was appointed to provide recommendations to the government on possible ways to reform the apprenticeship and traineeship system to ensure that it can meet Australia's skills needs into the 21st century [report available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 103.740]. The work of the panel was underpinned by a study on related economic costs and benefits, including research undertaken by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). This paper contributes to one of the four reports prepared by NCVER as part of this study, 'The apprenticeship and traineeship system's relationships with the regulatory environment' [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 103.685].

A variety of aspects relating to pay and conditions is important to the attractiveness of undertaking (and completing) an apprenticeship or traineeship. Awards are the basis of pay and conditions - hence this paper considers aspects of award structures and implications for apprentice and trainee rates of pay. The apprenticeship model combines a contract of training with a contract of employment and as such involves two regulatory systems: the training system and the industrial relations system. The new Fair Work industrial relations system has consolidated coverage into 122 modern awards, 95 of which contain the Training Wage Schedule and 45 of which provide for the employment of apprentices. Considerable diversity in apprentice pay and conditions remains and it is as yet unclear whether the new framework can be more adaptive in response to issues such as the expansion of apprenticeships and traineeships into new areas, competency-based wage progression, and the recognition of previous training and qualifications.

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The CEDA bulletin is published three times a year and aims to facilitate discussion on issues concerning Australia's economic and social development. This issue features a series of articles which examine the impact of globalisation on aspects of the Australian economy. The articles are: Workplace relations and the global imperative / Sharan Burrow; Currency markets / Ric Simes; New organisational structures / Danielle Venn; Exporting services to the global economy / Glenn Morris; When aerospace meets agriculture: Australia's grain industry goes global. Other feature articles include: 'Lifelong learning: what does it mean?' by Richard Curtain, in which the author argues that lifelong learning policy in Australia must be learner-centred and proposes an independently funded agency to represent and advocate the interests of learners; 'Population ageing and the economy' by Bronwyn Bishop, presents the Minister's edited responses to the report by Access Economics on 'Population ageing and the economy', launched at a CEDA seminar on the ageing workforce in Melbourne in March 2001; 'Corporate community involvement: cost or investment?' by Dahle Suggett, reports on a recent survey indicating that many Australian companies are increasing their involvement in community activities.

'Lifelong learning: what does it mean?' by Richard Curtain is indexed at TD/TNC 66.490. Show less