Bargaining under the Fair Work Act

Bargaining for workplace agreements has changes with the introduction of Fair Work Act. Using an integrated campaign approach to link bargaining with organising and growth strategies, this course explores the implications of these changes on the bargaining process, agreement content, workers rights, and the role of unions.   

Who is it for?
This course is designed for Organisers with direct responsibility for bargaining. 

Aims
This course covers essential skills and knowledge that underpin a successful bargaining campaign including:

• The legal background to bargaining provided by the Fair Work Act;
• Research and analysis of union and employer strategy and tactics;
• Using a framework to integrate the bargaining campaign with the organising and growth strategies of the Union;
• Strategic planning to promote member engagement, manage areas of risk and establish benchmarks to measure and evaluate the bargaining process.

• Identify legislative requirements for good faith bargaining, agreement content, and the types of agreements available under Fair Work;
• Identify the powers of Fair Work Australia to intervene in bargaining;
• Describe how to apply to Fair Work Australia for bargaining orders, including scope, majority support and protection for industrial action;
• Apply research and analysis skills to develop strategies and tactics for a successful bargaining campaign;
• Apply an integrated framework to planning and implementation of the bargaining campaign;
• Analyse changes to the rights and protections of members and delegates under Fair Work and how this impacts on their involvement in bargaining
• Identify employer bargaining strategies and effective union responses;
• Apply a risk management framework to planned bargaining activities
• Develop a strategic plan for bargaining to include actions, benchmarks and clear objectives.