Industrial relations essay PDF

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“The social legitimacy of employers’ use of casual employment of durations of more than six months is under challenge. Nevertheless, employer associations oppose calls to strengthen workers’ bargaining power through limiting the duration of casual employment supposedly for concerns for flexibility”. Discuss, with specific reference to primary sources from at least two employer associations. Note, define ’social legitimacy’ and ’flexibility’ in line with Boxall and Purcell’s theory.

Intro: Thesis: Employers want to ensure organisational flexibility The Social legitimacy of Employer associations act of the casualisation of employment, of durations more than six months is heavily being challenged by the Workers union. Social legitimacy underlines the Organisations need to act in socially legitimate ways, where the Corporate social responsibility of the organisation is high and widely accepted by society (Boxall and Purcell, 2016). Flexibility regards the organisations ability to adapting to many components of business, such as size, composition, responsiveness of the workforce (ability to hire and downsize) involved in the organisation (Boxall and Purcell, 2016). These two parties have certain views/ values about the casualisation of work, that differ highly from one another. Employer Associations advocate for the right to exercise their Organisational flexibility, however they see fit, whilst maintaining their managerial power (Barry and You, 2017). In saying this however, these Associations wish to do so within the respective social legitimacy pf the economy in which they are occupying in. The rebuttal of the Workers union is best shown through Adam Gartrell (2018), where in the article, the Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Sally McManus, is advocating for the implementation of placing limits on how long workers can be employed as casuals, in their respective organisations. Despite this disagreement in values/ views, employer associations oppose any calls to strengthen the workers’ bargaining power through limiting the duration of casual employment for existing concerns for organisational flexibility. This extended response will discuss two employer associations, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) as well as the Business Council of Australia, how social legitimacy and organisational flexibility is difficult to achieve simultaneously when both sides of the matter have opposing views on the relevance of casualisation of employment.

Body: 3 paragraphs 1/ Casual Employment: https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2018/jan/16/weshould-be-concerned-about-the-casualisation-of-full-time-work https://www.australianchamber.com.au/news/business-welcomes-closing-of-casual-employmentloophole/ Barry and You, 2018, pg 293 Casual employment entails that casual employees receive a higher pay rate than full/ part time employees, however, are not entitled to benefits such as sick leave or annual leave. Because of this, Employer associations generally advocate more towards casual employments, as they can freely dictate how many hours of labour are generally needed to achieve normal business functions, thus achieving cost- effective labour. The issue with this however, that unions see within casual employment, is the length of time employees are placed under casual employment, as well as the uncertainty of the employment of hundreds of thousands of Australians (ACCI, 2018). This is an issue that unions advocate against, hence why the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has welcomed the ‘closing of casual employment loophole’, by allowing the Federal Government to step in, through James Pearson, the Chief Executive of Australia’s largest voice for small businesses, the ACCI. Mr Pearson welcomed the Minister of Jobs and Industrial Relations, announcing that a new regulation will help make clear that current and former casual employees cannot claim compensation for any entitlements such as annual leave, public holidays etc. where employees have already received a casual loading already (generally, 25% higher pay) instead of these entitlements, thus increasing managerial power (Boxall and Purcell, 2016) as well as the social legitimacy of the various business involved in this decision (Boxall and Purcell, 2016). Aside from this implementation of this regulation, the minister also intends to ensure that the extended casual conversion rights are still strongly present, in order to ensure the interests of many businesses, employees as well as job seekers are all together, protected. This can be otherwise called, ‘Casual Deeming’ where casual employees, after a period of regular engagement, are now classified as permanent employees (Barry and You, 2018) So despite ACCI being an Employer Association, they have managed to find a way that allows both sides to be content with the government implementation, as they have not only addressed the loopholes of casual employment that have been taken advantage of, but also the inputting of extended casual conversion rights to ensure all stakeholders and employees interests are protected.

2/ Social Legitimacy: Textbook reference, chapter 5, pg 148, ‘Business Strategies and employment relations Barry and You, pg 293 Despite firms/ organisations being economic drivers, they also operate in societies, with which there are laws that attempt to dictate how managers employ workers, under the guise of social customs, social expectations that are widely shared as well as the treatment of employees at work. The social legitimacy of employers’ use of casual employment of durations of more than six months is under heavy scrutiny, as the worker unions deem this process and ‘unethical’ and ‘unpredictable’ as these employees have no job security and unsecured shifts/ pay for a long duration of time. This pressures employers, as they must also work with pressures of competition, in several markets. Markets such as, Product markets, labour markets and the Capital markets (Boxall and Purcell, 2016). The pursuit

of the goal of social legitimacy must be in line with the economic (commercial) context and the Socio-political context (social expectations, political systems, democracy etc.) of the organisations occupying society. Unions are pushing for workers bargaining power to be strengthened, as they demand for casual deeming and a change to how casual employment is handled in Australia (Barry and You, 2017). This goal of unions creates a friction between the two parties, thus resulting in several debates on whether Employer associations should give employees bargaining power, by pushing for the limiting of casual employment. Employer associations however do not wish to male employees lives harder, they do however wish to keep casual employment extended, due to concerns for organisational flexibility. If the organisation cannot downsize/ hire employees as quickly as needed (ie, seasonal employment/ rushes, in face of high staff turnover etc), then the business will be sure to fail. How labour in the organisation is managed will be determined by the needs of the organisation in economic (commercial) and socio-political domains see fit. Capital markets. Employers must get control of resources, but also do so in socially legitimate ways, as it will help organisations receive support from other stakeholders, access to resources and for decision making (managerial) power to continue and be strengthened.

3/ Organisational Flexibility: While unions push for most organisations to utilise Casual deeming within their organisations, it can be noted that it would be a major disservice to the employer associations, as most of the businesses that would be affected would have to pay more money toward labour than usual, due to casual deeming leading to the removal of extended casual employment. Organisational flexibility allows organisations to be able to increase and decrease (downsizing) workers in short notice, depending on the business model (seasonal employment, certain peaks and plateaus in generation of profit, as well as demand) of that organisation. Organisations push for maximising profit, to ensure continuation/ attract ongoing investment from capital markets, by; minimising costs of production (relative to competitors) and meeting needs of customers (better than competitors). Static (a point in time in the business cycle) and Dynamic (over time in the business cycle) facets need to be considered. Organisational flexibility is needed to adapt to changing customer needs, as well as other changing aspects of the environment of the organisation.

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Discuss: No right or wrong, it is solely your interpretation. Must talk about both sides. About how you argue it. Recommendation sources: Help get around the source material, how to understand the task....