Major Tribunal Decisions in 2008

Abstract

On 28 March 2008 a historic process of award modernization, by which Australia's award system will be fundamentally changed, began. Over 4000 existing federal awards and NAPSAs will be replaced by modern awards created primarily along industry lines, and occasionally along occupational lines. Modern awards will operate from January 2010 and, together with the National Employment Standards, will constitute the safety net under Labor's industrial relations system. This article considers some aspects of the award modernization process and the pivotal role of the AIRC in creating modern awards. This article also considers recent case law dealing with the implied duties to act in good faith and of mutual trust and confidence. Keywords: AIRC; award modernisation request; contract of employment; Fair Work Bill 2008; implied duty to act in good faith; implied duty of mutual trust and confidence; modern awards; priority industries; Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008 Journal of Industrial Relations

The ‘New’ Industrial Relations and International Economic Crisis: Australia in 2009

“…By the end of 2009, when the AIRC ceased functioning, over 1,500 awards and associated instruments had been reviewed and 122 'modern awards', based on industry or occupation, had been created (Gillard, 2009a). This was a 'truly daunting task' (Catanzariti and Brown, 2009: 381), which was motivated by a desire to simplify and streamline industrial relations processes, to reduce business costs and to promote productive, flexible workplaces (Gillard, 2009b: 1). Along with these ambitious goals, the Deputy PM required that the outcome of the review would, among other things, neither 'disadvantage employees' nor 'increase costs for employers' (Gillard, 2009b: 1).…”