“According to the principle of free and voluntary collective bargaining embodied in Article 4 of Convention No. 98, the determination of the bargaining level is essentially a matter to be left to the discretion of the parties and, consequently, the level of negotiation should not be imposed by law, by decision of the administrative authority or by the case-law of the administrative labour authority” (ILO, Article 4 of Convention No. 98)
In the Past century Australia has shifted away from conciliation and arbitration, to a more individualistic approach to employment decision making. The Howard Governments Work Choices Amendment has sped this process up and in 2007 the majority of employees were on non union, individual agreements or AWAs. Since the Labor Government has been in power, they strived to turn back not only Work choices, but 13 years of deregulation by banning AWAs after a five year transition period, and the introduction of ‘good faith compulsory bargaining’.(NFIA,2006) These compulsory laws go against basic human rights conventions which 156 countries have ratified and Australia has not, One must ponder why? This paper will firstly discuss the changes in the IR laws regarding collective agreements, secondly it will discuss the positives of a collective agreement to the employer, and lastly will discuss how compulsory agreement making is a step backward. One will come to the conclusion that no parties should be coerced into making an agreement, as this will hinder the future relationship of the parties, and that collective bargaining should be a choice not a regulation.
There are 3 types of agreements which employers have been able to choose based on their needs and circumstances, these consist of individual agreements (AWAs), Collective agr ...