Precarious employment and health: new knowledge, new solutions. This study examines why insecure forms of employment, such as casual work and self-employment, are usually associated with poorer health than more secure employment. The aim is to identify causes of these adverse effects and to develop policy and practice interventions to minimise them.
The future of aircraft maintenance in Australia: workforce capability, aviation safety and industry development. This research will analyse sources of skill shortage in Australia's aircraft maintenance industry and identify the safety risks of sending maintenance work offshore. It will compare these risks with the costs and benefits of building aircraft maintenance skills and careers, and enhancing their contribution to national technological development.
Enforcing labour standards in supply chains through voluntary frameworks. This project aims to investigate the potential of multi-stakeholder initiatives to ensure the enforcement of labour standards in supply chains by examining the cleaning accountability framework - an initiative comprised of diverse representatives in the commercial cleaning supply chain in Australia. It is expected that this will result in the development of new regulatory methods/technology to improve compliance. This is e ....Enforcing labour standards in supply chains through voluntary frameworks. This project aims to investigate the potential of multi-stakeholder initiatives to ensure the enforcement of labour standards in supply chains by examining the cleaning accountability framework - an initiative comprised of diverse representatives in the commercial cleaning supply chain in Australia. It is expected that this will result in the development of new regulatory methods/technology to improve compliance. This is expected to improve the quality of life of vulnerable workers in supply chains and the mitigation of reputational risk for business.
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Employee voice in Australia: the impact of employee participation arrangements on organisational performance and employee well-being. Given the extent of union decline in Australia, there is a need to update policy to reflect the new reality of low unionisation. This project will examine what alternative arrangements exist and their economic and social consequences. It focuses on the employee impacts and employer impacts of these arrangements and will inform current policy debates.
Testing the integration and differentiation of national employment systems: multinational enterprises in an international comparative context. Multinational enterprises play a leading role in shaping employment practices as their power disproportionately influences the direction of change in managing people. This project, conducted across six countries, enhances our understanding of how these organisations influence and shape the employment practices and systems in host contexts.
Facilitating workplace change: Redefining the role of industrial tribunals in Australia. Amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 passed in 2013 have the potential to re-define the role of Australia’s national workplace relations tribunal, the Fair Work Commission, by requiring it to promote cooperative and productive workplace relations. This project aims to identify an innovative model of tribunal intervention that meets these new imperatives through case studies from the Hunter region of NSW, whe ....Facilitating workplace change: Redefining the role of industrial tribunals in Australia. Amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 passed in 2013 have the potential to re-define the role of Australia’s national workplace relations tribunal, the Fair Work Commission, by requiring it to promote cooperative and productive workplace relations. This project aims to identify an innovative model of tribunal intervention that meets these new imperatives through case studies from the Hunter region of NSW, where tribunal members have for two decades been working proactively with managers, employees and their representatives in major construction projects and large public sector organisations to achieve cooperative and effective workplace change. Read moreRead less
Non-union employee representation in the workplace: debates and practice in Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States 1914-1939. This project uses comparative historical data to provide a clear direction for public policy in the development of frontier technology for employment relations infrastructure at the workplace level. This infrastructure would maximise workplace productivity, increase job satisfaction and provide a greater voice for employees in the workplace.
Flexibility for working parents in the 'hybrid' fair work system. The Fair Work Act (2009) establishes a novel 'hybrid' system of workplace regulation encompassing individual rights and processes and a new collective bargaining regime. This project investigates how the new framework can be utilised to establish flexible working arrangements for the benefit of families, employers and society.