Awards and agreements

Question 1

What is an award?

Answer 1

provide a safety net for basic employment conditions for all employees, including their wages and working conditions

Question 2

advantages of industry awards

Answer 2

• less time consumed in determining appropriate terms and conditions
• less work for management to complete as allowances are already determined for each occupation.
• provides a stable and secure safety net for employees

Question 3

Individual agreements

Answer 3

employees with sign an individual employment contract, the terms and conditions are generally based on the enterprise agreement previously negotiated.

Question 4

Enterprise agreements?

Answer 4

is a collective document agreement made in a workplace between an employer and a union, acting on behalf of its employees, sent to FWC for approval

Question 5

what must enterprise agreements include?

Answer 5

• expiry date
• procedures for settling disputes
• terms that allow for individual flexibility
• provisions for consultation with employees on workplace change

Question 6

Parties should enter in good faith? How should this be showed?

Answer 6

• attend and participate in meetings
• disclose relevant information to other parties in timely manner
• provide responses to proposals made by other bargaining representatives
• give genuine consideration of bargaining representatives and provide reasons if not accepted
• not engage in unfair conduct that undermines freedom of association or collective bargaining

Question 7

What does the fair trade commission have to do with enterprise agreements?

Answer 7

it needs to be submitted to the FWC for approval before it commences operations, it will examine the details of agreement.

Question 8

Advantages of enterprise agreements

Answer 8

• simpler method for determining wages and conditions of work, a business can incorporate award entitlements into a base rate for salary.
• may be used to attract talented or highly skilled employees to the business
• very flexible can be tailored to specific workplace needs

Question 9

Disadvantage of agreements?

Answer 9

• super time consuming to negotiate, employees to be negotiated, FWC approval process.
• condition that are better than awards can be more expensive
• vary in pay or conditions of work may result in industry action.