On the basis of your reading for Topic 3, try to answer the following questions:
What do the National Employment Standards (NES) include? In your answer, refer to the relevant statute law.
In your opinion, do the NES provide adequate protection for workers? Are there any other matters which you would like to see included or excluded?
What are the “modern awards objectives”? Refer to the relevant statute law.
FWC has the power to make awards (to arbitrate a dispute or determine industrial matters). What are the limits placed on the power by the FWC to make awards?
Which parties typically makes submissions to the FWC in minimum wage hearings?
What is the minimum wage in Australia right now? How did you find this information? How often is the minimum wage reviewed?
Watch the YouTube clip on the history of work / industrial revolution. The traditional employment paradigm has undergone dramatic transformation in the last 200 years.
Describe the modern worker and work.
How has regulation needed to change to this new employment dynamic?
Watch the YouTube clips on the Waterfront Dispute and the Qantas Dispute.
What were the industrial disputes about?
What strategies did the trade unions adopt in each dispute? How did these strategies play out?
What laws do you think should regulate an industrial dispute?
Industrial action is nothing like as prevalent as it used to be in Australia. What factors do you think have caused this decline?
