The Australian Charter of Employment Rights: Setting the Standard for New Legislation and Good Practice

Abstract

This article explores how the recently developed Charter of Employment Rights can be used by legislators, employers and unions to achieve sustainable working relationships in the post Work Choices environment. It examines the themes emerging from the conversations that the Australian Institute of Employment Rights (AIER) facilitated with employers, employees, unions, academics, lawyers and politicians throughout 2007. AIER hopes its Charter of Employment Rights will inform and inspire the objects of Labor's new legislation and provide a framework for the new regulatory system. In addition to being an instrument to aid the design of a new system, this article explores the role of the Charter in providing a framework for good employer practice and as a vehicle for education and change within workplaces and the community.The recently elected federal Labor government faces the urgent task of designing a new system of regulation that promotes a culture of balance in the regulation of the employment relationship and which emphasizes the need for employers and employees to achieve a sustainable workplace relationship.