The Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Ensuring Integrity) Bill 2019 (‘EI Bill’) has been re-introduced to Parliament couched in talk of the rule of law and “appalling behaviour” by union officials and sections of the union movement. But look beyond the...

originally featured on the Labour Law Down Under Blog The Enforceable Undertaking entered into between MasterChef star George Calombaris’s MADE Establishment Pty Ltd and the Fair Work Ombudsman makes for interesting reading. The celebrity chef has rightly copped a...

Nearly one week on from the Coalition Government’s ‘miracle’ election win the Australian labour movement is asking itself what went wrong. This time around Australia did not vote to change the rules, perhaps some hesitancy might be attributed to the lack of detail around industry level bargaining, perhaps the ALP policy suite was too broad to be fully grasped, perhaps $55 million dollars directed at polarising the electorate is depressingly effective.

With less than two weeks remaining of the federal election campaign we take this opportunity to look at what the major parties have proposed for workplace relations.

View the AIER submission to the National Inquiry into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces here.

View the AIER submission to the Victorian Government Inquiry into the on-demand economy here.

The Institute’s eighth Ron McCallum Debate was another great success and we were thrilled to be joined by John Hendy QC, Chair of our sister organisation, the British Institute of Employment Rights. Our panel engaged in robust discussion about the failings of...

The 2018 Ron McCallum Debate topic was Collective Bargaining: Delivering in the public interest? Watch our panel explore the state of enterprise bargaining and discuss the form of collective bargaining into the future. Read our summary of the debate and download our discussion paper.

The AIER supports a definition of “casual” work where use of casual employment is restricted to those circumstances that are genuinely unpredictable and short term. The introduction of an additional category of worker, as proposed by the NSWBC would result in increased complexity while entrenching insecurity and inequality within our system.

Collective Bargaining: Delivering for the public interest? Enterprise bargaining under the Fair Work Act 2009 is failing. Agreements under our system may be reached without the involvement of trade unions and absent any actual process of bargaining. The number of...

Only weeks after the installation of Prime Minister Scott Morrison the sand has been poured and the political football that is industrial relations has been set up for the kick. Passage of the Ensuring Integrity Bill ('EI Bill') has been listed for the Senate this...

Last week the Melbourne Institute released its Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey finding no evidence of a rise in the use of independent workers, prompting commentary that the ‘gig economy is a myth’. One interesting aspect of this finding is the Survey’s ready equation of gig economy workers with the solo self-employed.

The Australian Institute of Employment Rights is delighted to announce the appointment of Renee Burns to the role of Executive Director. Renee has a background working in human resources and industrial relations for local government and private sector employers and is...

Wither wages? Wages – or the lack of them – remain at the heart of Australia’s industrial, economic and social concerns in the first quarter of 2018.

Job Opportunity: The AIER is looking for an Executive Director to lead its work, including our project to envisage a new workplace relations architecture.