LAW7435 - Workplace bargaining and agreements law

Leader(s): Professor Marilyn Pittard

Offered

City (Melbourne) First semester 2009 (On-campus split block of classes)

Synopsis

This unit will examine the international concept and basis of collective bargaining including through international law, International Labor Organization conventions and their interpretation; the adoption of international standards and their concept in Australian labour law and the role of the courts, industrial tribunals and the legislature in developing the right to bargain and collective bargaining; the right to strike in the context of bargaining in collective agreements and its international basis; the limits of industrial action in collective bargaining; and when protected industrial action ballots (compulsory strike ballots) might be sought and ordered.

The unit will also study the role of bargaining agents; the duty to bargain and the concept of good faith bargaining; the legal status of collective agreements and parties to agreements; the 'no disadvantage test' and the protection of labour standards; and legal issues about the role, content, termination and enforcement of agreements. The role of unions and employers in bargaining will be examined.

Recent and proposed changes to Australian labour law in the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) relating to workplace agreements under the federal Labor government's Forward with Fairness' policy will be evaluated, together with the use of individual flexibility arrangements and common law contracts.

Objectives

On completion of the subject students should understand and be able to critically evaluate:

• the impact of laws which promote or restrict bargaining;
• the concepts of the right to bargain and collective bargaining and the role played by the legislature, the courts, industrial tribunals and international conventions in developing these concepts;
• the development of the concept of the right to strike and lockout and its international basis in the context of bargaining; and
• the role of unions and employers in bargaining and the legal status, content and enforcement of agreements.

Assessment

One research assignment (3,750 words): 50%
One take-home examination: (3,750 words): 50%
In appropriate cases determined by the lecturer where a student has experience in the practice of workplace bargaining and agreements law, assessment may be one research assignment (7,500 words) for 100% of the marks.

Contact hours

24 contact hours per semester (either intensive, semi-intensive or semester long, depending on the Faculty resources, timetabling and requirements)

Prerequisites

LAW7083 Law of Employee Relations or its equivalent

Co-requisites

None

Prohibitions

None