For the last blog post of this semester
I’m going to talk about employment relations in Australia. For the most part, Australia is leaps and
bounds above some other nations struggling to create a cohesive, equitable and
enforceable employment relations scape.
When in 1972, equal pay was introduced I
think it helped to consolidate Australia as a place where people wanted to live
and work. The Workplace Relations Act of 1996, and Fair Work Australia in 2009,
now the Fair Work Commission, has helped to strengthen Australia’s employment
relations and create a well-rounded system. Although, Australia is not
experiencing economic expansion like that of China or India, the economy has
had a strong foothold in the global arena due to its natural resources, and this has allowed Australia
to grow steadily over the years.
I believe Australia has benefitted from
this type of growth, as our employment relations have been able to ‘keep up’
with the demands of the growing economy, a luxury that some other countries haven't been afforded. I did my presentation with Louisa on China and its employment relations and economic growth, and
when you compare China to Australia, there are not many similarities that come
to mind. To me, China’s rapid growth has not been matched by the reforms to
their socialist employment relations, which has lead to a real discrepancy
between what the workers need and what is being delivered. Australia, I
believe, has been able to effectively match the needs of workers and employers,
which has put them in a good place as it looks to the future.
Overall, I think Australia’s employment
relations are strong, and this bodes well for the economic future of this
country. However, nothing is perfect, and we can certainly take away lessons
from other countries. One of the things I’ve taken away from this unit is the
complexity of, and variances between, different countries and economies. The
ways in which each country we discussed managed their employment relations and
went about implementing them was differed and it was interesting to understand
how culture, history and economic standing affected the countries.
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog over
the last couple of weeks J
Hayley
