Assessment task

The Fair Work Act 2009 establishes a safety net of working conditions for employees falling within its jurisdiction, doing so via modern awards, National Employment Standards, as well as minimum wage determinations. Employers and employees may nonetheless enter into bargaining arrangements that lead to settlements whereby the terms and conditions of employment improve upon those offered by the safety net. These settlements are known as enterprise agreements, and the processes by which they are concluded figure prominently within the regulatory content of the Fair Work Act 2009. Indeed, around 40 per cent of Australian employees are presently working under some form of enterprise agreement. Hence the purpose of this assignment, which seeks to give you an appreciation of this increasingly pervasive form of labour contract.

You have been employed as a human resource manager by a firm that employs 100 workers, whose terms and conditions are presently regulated by a modern award. The owners of the firm have wondered what would be involved in moving their workforce onto an enterprise agreement, and what advantages and disadvantages are said to be associated with such agreements by comparison to modern awards. In addressing queries you are to write an essay that answers the following questions:

- What does the process of enterprise bargaining involve?

- What are the legal requirements that need to be observed?

- What organisations and institutions need to be consulted and/or applied to in the process of enterprise bargaining?

The essay should also draw on sources beyond the course content to answer the following question:

- What advantages and disadvantages are said to be associated with centralised bargaining, as exemplified in the settlement of modern awards, and decentralised bargaining, as exemplified in the settlement of enterprise agreements?

In undertaking this assessment task you should draw on authoritative sources only to support the discussion, arguments and analysis being made. What counts as ‘authoritative' are peer- reviewed journal articles, scholarly texts and research books, mainstream media, employer associations, trade unions, and public institutions with an interest in employment relations. You should not offer personal opinions or rely on personal experience. Nor should you refer to internet blogs, vanity sites, and the like, recognisable by their having no legitimacy in representation, or their offering of views and claims that are unaccountable to public, political or academic review.

Assignment format, instructions and rules

- Adhere to the word limit as set out above. Any assignment content over the limit will not be examined.

- There is no requirement or recommendation as to the number of sources that should be cited.

- This is not a group assignment.

- Double space your work in a 12 font, as it makes the text easier to read for the examiner.

- Papers that use no citation will attract an automatic zero. Resubmission is not an option.

- Papers that have no reference list will attract an automatic zero. Resubmission is not an option.

- Papers that do not apply correct citation format will be marked down. If you are unsure of how to cite sources used to develop arguments in university level essays, you should consult the resources made available in the ‘writing essays' folder on this unit's CloudDeakin web-site.
Examiners will allow some leeway for minor errors if a genuine attempt to apply a correct citation format is evident.

- Papers that apply citation to mask plagiarism will be automatically referred to the Academic Progress Committee, as will all cases of plagiarism. If you are unsure of what constitutes plagiarism, you should consult the resources made available in the ‘writing essays' folder on this unit's CloudDeakin web-site.

- The expected format of the assessment task is a standard university ‘essay' (i.e., opening with an introduction, followed by a body of content setting out the arguments, finishing with a conclusion summarising the key points). It is not a ‘report'; hence do not provide an executive summary or table of contents.