Length and/or format:

1200 words

For this assignment you are required to identify employment relations issues/problems which are currently or have very recently been in the Australian news media. The issues/ problems should relate to some aspect of one of the topics covered in Weeks 3 and 4.

Both Weeks 3 and 4 relate to the role of the State:

Week 3 – The political, economic and social context in which employment relations is practiced

Government and opposition party policies/changes to laws

Union campaigns

Suggested topics to choose from are listed below:

• Trade union powers/regulation
• Regulatory bodies (eg. Australian Building & Construction Commission)
• Wages and conditions for workers (eg. penalty rates, minimum wages)

Week 4 – Legal framework of employment.

Legal processes/substantive and procedural rules

Workplace Ombudsman investigations/decisions

Suggested topics to choose from are listed below:

• Workplace discrimination
• Contractors/minimum conditions
• Unfair dismissal

What should you do?

1. Summarise of learnings relating to one aspect of workplace relations from Weekly Topics in Weeks 3 and/or 4:

Summarise your learnings from readings (newspaper articles and anything from the text book relating to the issue/topic), journal articles (eg. articles from journals such as The Journal of Industrial Relations, The Australian Bulletin of Labor, Labor and Industry, workshop discussions and other readings.

1. Reflect on your learnings:
   1. choose any topic from the workshop, readings and discussions during relating to Weeks 3 and/or 4.
   2. Follow the structure below.

The reflective questions you need to address are:

• What are the major current themes and issues?
• What are the employers’ perspectives?
• What are the employees’ perspectives?
• What are the implications of the issue for organisations e.g. brand, reputation?
• What is the State’s interests in the issue?

This critique should be against the theories and practical material discussed in class as well as additional research by students. You should use the text as a starting point and research recent high quality journal articles on the issue.

This is your chance to consider real employment relations situations and either support or argue a perspective, rather than just accepting what has been delivered.

A possible structure for the report could be

• Introduction – Major themes and issues (200 words)
• Employers’ perspective (250 words)
• Employees’ perspective (250 words)
• Implications for the organisation (250 words)
• Political, social and economic context (250 words)
• Reference List