Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Leading Australian Business AIRC Industrial Dispute Resolution Conference – International Perspectives Melbourne – 3 October 2007 Peter Anderson ACCI Director – Workplace Policy

Australian peak council of employer organisations Lead employer voice in national policy, conciliation and arbitration International representative of Australian employers on labour matters (e.g. IOE, ILO, CAPE) and trade matters (BIAC-OECD, ICC, CACCI) ACCI

Content Australia’s dispute record Types of disputes Dispute subject matters Mechanisms for resolution Business objectives Disputes and arbitration Disputes and conciliation Disputes and mediation Disputes and bargaining Disputes and International Standards

Australia’s dispute record strikes historically low 0.8 days lost / ‘000 employees last 12 months – reduced 243,000 working days lost to 88,400

Types of disputes human resource disputes / conflicts (individual) rights disputes (usually individual) interest disputes (collective and individual)

Dispute Subject Matters higher wages / wages owed hours / rosters leave people /management workloads promotion / transfer discipline termination redundancy discrimination outsourcing health / safety unionism privacy insolvency

Mechanisms for Resolution courts / judicial bodies arbitrators conciliators mediators industry dispute panels corporate grievance processes / panels informal internal processes direct human relationships negotiation / bargaining processes strikes government regulators / agencies the labour market

Business Objectives efficiency, relevance, practicality, non intrusiveness, not self creating appropriate dispute resolution (contrast – alternative dispute resolution)

Disputes and arbitration compulsory arbitration abolished (except dismissals) not resulted in increased disputes voluntary / private arbitration provided for

compulsory conciliation abolished (except dismissals) not resulted in increased disputes voluntary / private conciliation provided for involves notion of mediation Disputes and conciliation

Disputes and mediation government sponsored system of private mediation limited utility

Disputes and bargaining cultural shift – enterprise focus ongoing internal forums, committees driven in part by health and safety dialogue

recognition of ‘independent facilitators’ for collective bargaining recognition that a ‘negotiated agreement is to be preferred to an imposed solution’ recognition of representative organisations Disputes and International Standards

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Leading Australian Business AIRC Industrial Dispute Resolution Conference – International Perspectives Melbourne – 3 October 2007 Peter Anderson ACCI Director – Workplace Policy