Advanced Studies in Industrial Relations †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Advanced Studies in Industrial Relations. Answer: Introduction Industrial Relations can be referred to the multi disciplinary field which studies about relationship of employment. It can also be called as employee relations because of the importance of non industrial employment relationships. This is often seen as synonymous to Human Resource Management trend. Employee relations deals with the non unionized workers, on the other hand, labor relations deals with the unionized workers. Industrial Relations deals with the studying and examining various situations of employment, not only the unionized workforce but also the non-unionized workforce (Ackers, 2014). The report throws light on the issues related to the employment of visa holders in Australia, especially student and S457 visa holders. There are some rights of S457 visa holders in the Australian system which helps in preventing workplace exploitation. Moreover, the student visa holders have the right to receive accurate and current information regarding the courses, requirements, structure of the fees and others (Bechter, Brandl Meardi, 2012). The report highlights the points related to the 7 Eleven inquiry and why it is done along with some major finding. It also discusses about the gaps in the Australian ER system and the role of state and unions. Further it discusses about the implications of the inquiry for the regulation ER in Australia along with the workers rights and duties along with a brief idea regarding the current scenario of workers visa in Australia. Discussion For preventing exploitation at the workplace, there are various rights of workplace in Australia. The racial discrimination act protects all the workers on basis of race, sex, color, gender, descent and others along with the prohibition of workplace bullying. The act against sex discrimination provides protection to the workers from sexual harassment. The disability discrimination act provides protection to the workers from harassments regarding their disability. The act against discrimination of age prohibits child labor and under age employees (Bissett Landau, 2012). Irrespective of their caste, religion, sexual preference, origin and others, women must have equal opportunities and rights at the workplace. They must receive extra payments, if they serve the company for more hours. Moreover, there should be no gender biasness, women and men workers must be equally paid based on their work and experience. If any worker is unwell, he/she has the right to take leave. Female workers ca n take maternity leave when required (Candy, 2015). 7-Eleven Inquiry On June 2014, Fair Work Ombudsman, often abbreviated as FWO, conducted an Inquiry to the allegations which the Australias leading franchisee retailer, 7-Eleven Australia Private Limited was facing. The allegations were mostly regarding significant under payment of the wages and forgery of the employment records which occurred at that point of time. The inquiry was held to keep a track record of all these allegations which was strictly coordinated with inspections of site and keeping an analysis of the subsequent record. It was conducted on a sample size of twenty 7-Eleven stores (Cully, 2012). The Inquiry contained some in-depth investigations of the 7-Eleven stores with the employees assistance. The investigations were disclosed after concerning the non compliance levels with Fair Work Regulations 2009 and Fair Work Act 2009. This included instances regarding the deliberate manipulations of track records in order to hide the fact of underpayment of the wages. Moreover, for identifyi ng and addressing the drivers regarding non compliance, the Inquiry started examining the actions of the workplace participants and considered ways to motivate them (Denny Churchill, 2016). The Inquiry helped in understanding better the required role of 7-Eleven, its employees operational procedures and also regarding its franchisees. It helped in determining the fact that whether the 7-Eleven store had any role in forgery of the employment records and under payment of wages. It helped in finding the workplace matters approach of the 7-Eleven stores (Dudley et al., 2012). It seemingly promoted compliance, but did not however promote non compliance and compounded it. There were instances where the franchisees made misleading and false records in order to satisfy the payroll and auditing regime of the 7-Eleven stores, while they continued to pay less to the employees. Investigations were held which took samples of twenty stores of 7-Eleven and actions were undertaken in accordance with that. Seven matters were filed before Federal Circuit Court and infringement notices were sent, recovering over 293,500 dollars for the workers (Fraser, 2016). The investigation report examined the whole operating environment of the stores along with their behavior. Moreover, the investigation report brought in issues related to rates of penalty not being paid correctly and also non-payment of wages to the employees on public holidays. Furthermore, it had issues related to instances of employees not receiving payments for working overtime and payment slips did not contain the required details. It had a severe effect on the employees and huge money was recovered from this (Hardy, 2016). The 7-Eleven stores comprised huge number of international student workers who belonged to the Non-English speakers background. International student visas gave allowance of forty hours per fortnight to work. Young employees, especially international ones, were facing severe exploitation and non-payment of nightshift works. Moreover, the training periods were unpaid which gave rise to the exploitation of international student workers. In addition to that the investigation report shows that almost all the workers did not receive market rate salary, which is their basic right (Irving, 2013). Gaps in the Australian ER system Considerable changes at the workforce and the legislation of Industrial Relations resulted in the gaps between the systems of representation and regulations of Industrial Relations. Out of twenty 7-Eleven stores, seven of them were subjected to complete investigation. Few number of those investigations were challenging for the Fair Work Inspectors. There were several instances of the suspects who were providing some conflicting information, many changed the account details and few relied on the records which were later found inaccurate (O'Brien Boersma, 2016). When the inspectors found out that the employer was not paying correct amount of wages to the employees, their challenge was to discover the amount of money the company owed to its workers. To report this by legal proceedings, the investigators had to establish the amount of underpayment in front of the judicial court, which posed to be a challenge in front of them. The inspectors precisely established the shift timings each a nd every employee was working and the amount they were paid. This gave false and inaccurate statements of payment slips for which forensic work needed to be carried out (Poole, 2013). The work was actually labor intensive which involved careful analysis and comparison of evidences, carefully viewing the CCTV footages and recording the interviews of the employees and other workers or witnesses if any. Most of the stores contained inaccurate records of underpayments. The gaps in the Australian ER system that this inquiry raises in regard to the role of the state and the role of unions are analyzed here. At times, the foreign workers are not even paid the salary which is of market rate (Rainnie, 2016). Moreover they dont have the Insurance coverage. The existing working visa class for the international workers has been changed into a new one consisting of new rules, which gradually reduced the list of occupations. There are several limitations of the new visa for working, which is two years. Four years visa demands a quality standard of English speaking ability among the workers. Furthermore, payments will be deducted from the workers salary amount for their benefits (Reilly, 2013). Income rate of the humanitarian immigrants and family visa holders is comparatively less than others for which the impact of fiscal policy is negative among those visa classes. They have no accessibility of payments regarding social welfare as well as settlement services (Robertson, 2012). Moreover, there are several rights of student visa holders which are discussed here. Firstly, they have the freedom of speech and expression. They have the right to receive accurate and genuine information related to the courses, fees structure and requirements. The provider must give correct information to the international students before their enrollment. Working students have work permit but that is limited to some hours. The 7-Eleven stores exploited young international workers and paid them less amount of wages (Robertson, 2014). All workers, including the foreign ones have the basic rights and protections at the workplace, which needs to be adhered or followed. These workplace laws are for both the foreign and residential workers. They can ask for flexible timing arrangements during work. They have the right to take leaves on public holidays or long service, annual, personal, parental, community service and others (Robertson, 2016). They should be notified before termination and must be protected against workplace bullying. Moreover, they must be paid extra for serving overtime or working for extra hours. All the employees, be it foreign or residential, must receive the accurate payment or some rewards, which includes trainings and meetings, most importantly, they must be paid with the market salary rates. They have the right to get protection against workplace discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, sexual orientation, marital status, disabilities, origin or diversity and other factors (Shields et al., 2015). Implications of the Inquiry Workplace laws of Australia impose huge responsibility for the employee entitlements over employers. In the case of 7-Eleven inquiry, an individual who is outside employment relationship, that is franchisor and others, does not have any direct and legal responsibility in respect to the other employees (Sivaraman Turner, 2016). The Inquiry helped in demonstrating the fact that 7-Eleven has exercised influence as well as a high level of control on its franchisees, taking several aspects of operations into consideration. The stores of 7-Eleven regularly reviewed its network, payroll and also provided accessibility to training to the employees and support to the franchisees. Moreover, it maintained the stores profit and loss statements and also detailed information regarding their payroll as well as business expenditure (Terry-Armstrong, 2016). The workplace right of S457 visa holders in the Australian Industrial Relations system contains the many points. For prevention of workplace exploitation, the country has some specific rights for its workers. Firstly, the act against racial discrimination protects workers on the basis of race, origin, color, descent and others. Secondly, the act against sex discrimination protects workers from any kind of sexual harassments. Thirdly, the disability discrimination act provides protection to the workers on the basis of their disability (Tham Campbell, 2012). Fourthly, the age discrimination act provides protection against underage workers. Fifthly, irrespective of their religion, caste, gender, sex, sexual preference, origin and others, all the workers should have equal opportunities and rights. There should be no exploitation and workplace bullying. Lastly, workers needs to be paid extra if they serve the organization for more hours which includes receiving equal payments irrespectiv e of the workers caste, sex, religion and others. Moreover, workers must be allowed to take leaves if he/she is unwell including female workers maternity leave allowance (Ackers, 2014). The Fair Work Act has a set of laws that is legal rights and regulations to promote a fair relationship between the employee and the employer. It promotes a safer workplace for the employees to work in. They have the basic workplace protection and rights. Moreover, these laws are applicable for both the international as well as the residential workers (Bissett Landau, 2012). Furthermore, to maintain records and ensure the working hours of the employees, the stores must implement several measures. Firstly, the biometrics time recording system helps in identifying which employee is working for how many hours. It helps in monitoring the records and maintaining the actual records of the employees. It keeps a track record of the employees working hours, which include the login and logout time. Secondly, weekly rosters should be provided at the stores to maintain the record of its employees (Denny Churchill, 2016). Thirdly, photographic identification must be maintained of all the employees in order to maintain a security of the stores. Fourthly, the CCTV systems must be in good condition and operate all the time. They must have the capacity to record and store all the footages. Franchisees should not have the accessibility to the footages or its storage as they may alter or cause changes to the recordings (O'Brien Boersma, 2016). Lastly, it needs to be ensured that all the electronic systems are in good condition and operational. If the electronics are not in good condition they must be send for maintenance. Other processes like self auditing, employee hotline, rectifying underpayment cases, Franchisees wage costs, and employee and franchisee engagement must be maintained on a daily basis (Tham Campbell, 2012). Conclusion To conclude, the existing working visa for the international workers has been changed which include some new set of rules, leading in to the reduction of the list of occupations. Moreover, the limitation of the new visa for the working class is of two years. Four years long visa requires the workers to have a quality standard of English speaking ability. However, the new working visa deducts money from the workers salary for their benefits. The humanitarian visa holders and family immigrants income has become comparatively lesser than others. The 7-Eleven stores must establish a guaranteed reserve fund that should be maintained by the store manager in order to cover payments of the store employees or workers. This will help in identifying underpayment issues and help them rectify those. Furthermore, in order to maintain records of the employees, the stores must undertake certain measures like, biometrics time recording system helps in identifying which employee is working for how many hours, weekly rosters should be provided at the stores to maintain the record of its employees and photographic identification must be maintained of all the employees in order to maintain a security of the stores. The CCTV systems must be in good condition and operate all the time and it needs to be ensured that all the electronic systems are in good condition and operational. References Ackers, P. (2014). Rethinking the employment relationship: a neo-pluralist critique of British industrial relations orthodoxy.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,25(18), 2608-2625. Bechter, B., Brandl, B., Meardi, G. (2012). Sectors or countries? Typologies and levels of analysis in comparative industrial relations.European Journal of Industrial Relations,18(3), 185-202. Bissett, M., Landau, I. (2012). Australia's 457 Visa Scheme: And the Rights of Migrant Workers.Alternative Law Journal,33(3), 142-146. Candy, N. (2015). Underpayment Of wages: The widespread exploitation of young workers.Bulletin (Law Society of South Australia),37(11), 10. Cully, M. (2012). More than additions to population: the economic and fiscal impact of immigration.Australian Economic Review,45(3), 344-349. Denny, L., Churchill, B. (2016). Youth employment in Australia: A comparative analysis of labour force participation by age group.Journal of Applied Youth Studies,1(2), 5. Dudley, M., Steel, Z., Mares, S., Newman, L. (2012). Children and young people in immigration detention.Current opinion in psychiatry,25(4), 285-292. Fraser, M. (2016). Investigating 7-Eleven: Who are the real bad guys?.Griffith Journal of Law Human Dignity,4(2). Hardy, T. (2016). Who Should Be Held Liable for Workplace Contraventions and on What Basis?.Australian Journal of Labour Law,29(1), 78-109. Irving, K. (2013). Australian students' perceptions of the importance and existence of their rights.School Psychology International,22(2), 224-240. O'Brien, B., Boersma, M. (2016). Human Rights in the Supply Chains of Australian Businesses: Opportunities for Legislative Reform. Poole, M. (2013).Industrial relations: origins and patterns of national diversity(Vol. 4). Routledge. Rainnie, A. (2016).Industrial relations in small firms: Small isn't beautiful. Routledge. Reilly, A. (2013). Protecting vulnerable migrant workers: The case of international students. Robertson, S. (2012). Cash cows, backdoor migrants, or activist citizens? International students, citizenship, and rights in Australia.Ethnic and Racial Studies,34(12), 2192-2211. Robertson, S. (2014). Time and temporary migration: The case of temporary graduate workers and working holiday makers in Australia.Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies,40(12), 1915-1933. Robertson, S. (2016). Student-workers and tourist-workers as urban labour: temporalities and identities in the Australian cosmopolitan city.Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies,42(14), 2272-2288. Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., ... Plimmer, G. (2015).Managing Employee Performance Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge University Press. Sivaraman, G., Turner, P. (2016). The 7-Eleven wages scandal: The need for law reform.Precedent (Sydney, NSW), (135), 53. Terry-Armstrong, N. (2016). 7-Eleven: A case study of a flawed franchise model.Busidate,24(2), 8. Tham, J. C., Campbell, I. (2012).Temporary migrant labour in Australia: the 457 visa scheme and challenges for labour regulation. Centre for Employment Labour Relations Law, Melbourne Law School. Advanced Studies In Industrial Relations – Myassignmenthelp.Com Question: Discuss About The Advanced Studies In Industrial Relations? Answer: Introduction Any organization, whether big or small, cannot work with mere laptops, tables, air conditions or the other non living things. There is a need for the organization to have the requisite human resource for bringing the work of the organization together and for performing the same, so that the objectives and goals, which the organization has set for it, are attained (Foot Hook, 2008). The failure or success of any organization is proportional to the efforts put in by its employees. And this makes the relations with the employees, all the more important (Crawshaw, Budhwar Davis, 2014). Employment relations denote the legal relationship between the employee and the employers, which exists when an individual undertakes some work or services of another, based on some conditions and in return, gets paid a particular amount as remuneration (Balnave, 2009). 7 Eleven is one of the prominent franchisees in the nation, which misused the employee relations and created a scandal, which led to the Fair Work Ombudsman launching an inquiry in 2014 where the focus was on the employment practices employed by the franchisee and the compliances with the industrial relations law, especially in the matter of pay and conditions (Danckert, 2016). The following parts present the summary of this inquiry to understand what actually happened in the franchisee. Once this is done, the shortfalls of the Australian employment relations system have been analysed, which were particularly raised through the inquiry conducted in 7 Eleven matter. And before concluding, the implications of this inquiry over the Australian employment relations system have been highlighted. Eleven inquiry On April 9th, 2016, the Fair Work Ombudsman released its report which covered the findings of the inquiry conducted by it into the franchisee network of 7-Eleven. The allegations related to the systemic non-compliances of the federal workplace laws led to the inquiry into the matters of 7 Eleven. The inquiry was started at the backdrop of the continuous reports from the employees of the franchisee, who alleged a major underpayment of their rightful wages. And there was also a rising number of evidence being presented regarding the underpayments being linked to the false employment records, which were created by the franchisee (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2016a). The best way to put the issue was that the employees were to be paid only half the actual hour award rate of $24.50, or even less, and in case a complaint is made, the boss would threaten the employee with deportation (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2015). The inquiry was initiated to test the allegations which were made by carrying out site inspections in a coordinated manner and through subsequent analysis of the record keeping of a sample of 20 of the franchisees stores. Through the investigation, it was disclosed that there had been a shockingly high levels of non compliances of the Fair Work Act, 2009 and Fair Work Regulations, 2009, where the instances included the wilful manipulation of the records so that the underpayment of the wages could be disguised and the entire case was very concerning (Commonwealth of Australia, 2016). The actions and thee motivations of the workplace participants were examined under the inquiry for identifying and addressing the non-compliance drivers. A better understanding of the roles of the franchisee, its employees, its model and culture were undertaken (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2016a). It was found in the inquiry that the approach of the franchisee in the workplace matters, even though seemingly promoted compliance, it did not detect or address the wilful non-compliances in an adequate manner and in reality, compounded it. This was particularly the false and misleading records created by the franchisee so as to satisfy payroll and auditing regime and also continued to underpay its employees (Ferguson and Danckert, 2016). The reason why the franchisee could successfully carry out such actions was due to the threat of deportation amongst the employees. The majority of employees of the franchisee are from non-English speaking backgrounds, particularly from India, China and Pakistan. The employees were typically the male international student visa holders. Even though the rules permit that the students could work for a maximum of 40 hours per fortnight in a legally valid manner, these people were working for up to 50 hours. Due to the fear of being deported, for having breached their visa conditions, the people of this category remained silent and the fraud of 7 Eleven, continued (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2016b). The inquiry conducted by the Fair Work Ombudsman suggested that the payroll section of the store review process failed to properly interrogate the records of the store and the practices being adopted for uncovering the signs of these breaches which the franchisee tried to hide. 7 Eleven had the proper reasons for inquiring and acting upon this matter as the head office controlled the system settings, pursuant to which, the employers of the franchisee operated. Also, it had the proper tools and resources to maketing inquiries into these matters and also to attempt to direct the franchisee behaviour; yet it failed to do so in a significant manner, till the time the franchisee became exposed to the public scrutiny (James, 2016). Australian ER System The key issue which the Fair Work Ombudsman inquiry into the 7-Eleven case highlighted was the sheer lack of paying heed to the problems being faced by the employees of the franchisee. The politicians, the lawyers and the regulators should have taken some steps for helping the workers who were being intimidated and exploited (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2015). The non compliances by the franchisee had been alleged back since 2008 and there was an acute failure of the responsible agencies in working towards these issues. More importantly, this case raised a huge query over the role played by the state and the union in the Australian employment relations system. Role of State A key role in the employment relations is played by the states. The state does not act as a single actor, but consists of different agencies, where each of these agencies has a specific function and purpose. So, the statement covers the elected government, along with the relevant agencies which carry on the work of the government and also implement the legislations and policies as are applicable (Loudon, McPhail Wilkinson, 2015). Amongst the objectives of the state, in the matter of employment relations is the need for maintaining high levels of employment. Even though this is a broad concept, it includes that whilst high levels of employment are maintained, the rights of the workers are protected. The political influence, including that of the government shapes the employment relations. Some of the matters in which the government plays a major role include the government as being an employer in its own right, being the regulator of prices and income; and economic manager; protector of standards; promoter of social citizenship guidelines; and a rule maker and legislator (Dundon Rollinson, 2011). In the 7 Eleven case, by being the employer in its own right, the state had the responsibility of setting the standards of responsible employment practices. These employment standards required the workers to be provided the work at fair wages and in safe conditions. However, the workers were paid half of what the standard was and were also intimidated and threatened with deportation. To make the matters worse, some of the workers were physically intimidated and beaten up (Woodley, 2016). The standards of employment practices were flouted over and again and the government failed to take the requisite actions to stop these. The state is also the income regulator where the wages and prices are set through direct or indirect intervention of the state. The franchisee breached these provisions openly and issues were raised in this regard, yet the state failed in its role an effective income regulator. Beating up the manpower is not an effective utilization of the talent pool and when the e mployees were beaten up, the state failed to act as an effective economic manager (Dundon Rollinson, 2011). The most significant failure of the state in this case was that it failed to act as a protector. It was the duty of the state to monitory that the employees were safe and their survival was not threatened (Williams, 2017). But in this case, the same was not done and was contently breached across years. Another shortfall of the state was as a rule maker and legislator. Different sections of the Fair Work Act, 2009 and Fair Work Regulations, 2009 were openly flouted by the franchisee, yet nothing significant was done. The actions were taken in 2009 and before that, the full extent of such treatment of the employees could never be calculated (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2016a). And all this led to the state failing as a social citizenship (Dundon Rollinson, 2011). Thus, the inquiry into 7 Eleven case highlights the gaps in the Australian employment system, particularly in the matter of role of the state. Role of Unions The labour or trade unions have been present since the time of 1930s and are meant to represent the interests of the workers in the employment relationship along with promoting the equal bargaining power and to avoid such a situation where there is a domination of employer over the employees. Through the efforts of the union, the workers attain benefits in form of better working conditions and pay, along with being treated with dignity and their work being respected (Williams, 2017). The labour unions were predominantly created to provide an equal bargaining power to the employers, as they held the ability of setting the working terms and conditions exclusively and also regarding the pay (Calveley Shelley, 2017). But the case of 7 Eleven showed the failure on part of the labour union in doing so. The very purpose for which the trade unions are used in employment relations was not met in this case. This is because the dominating bargaining power was present very clearly. The workers openly threatened the workers to work at lower the standard rate of wages or else face chances of deportation for the reasons of overworking, which breached the normal 40 hour working limit (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2016a). It is not an acceptable fact that the trade unions involved with 7 Eleven were not aware of the rules being flouted by the franchisee. And this highlights the very gap in the role of the trade union covered under the Australian employment relation system, which is supp osed to be played and which is actually played. Apart from the collective bargaining role played by the trade unions, the unions are supposed to work towards employee welfare (Bennett Kaufman, 2011). The unions fight for the workers to get better conditions and term, along with factors like jobs security and protection from any action by the employer, coupled with their health care and safe working conditions. But the employee welfare was openly made a mockery off, as per the 7 Eleven inquiry. Not only were the workers beaten, they were also forced to pay back the wages which had been paid to them (Karp, 2016). The franchisee resorted to intimidated and violence for deterring the underpayment claims, and apart from the Fair Work Ombudsmen, no party did anything, especially not the trade unions that had the duty of ensuring employee welfare. There was a need for the union to interfere before this matter escalated and became a scandal, and also before hundreds of employees faced the brunt of the misdeeds of the franchisee. Another important role of the trade unions relate towards the unfair practices and legislations. The unions are required to check the unfair labour practices which are employed by the employers. The victimization of the worker does against the standard of practices (Dibben, Wood Klerck, 2011). And in 7 Eleven case, there was nothing apart from unfair practices; in other words, the trade unions failed in ensuring that the franchisee adopted fair practices. The union should have intervened when the workers were being threatened with deportation and also when they were not being paid the standard wages. When there were so many allegations made by different set of people against the franchisee, it was the duty of the trade union to look into the matter and stop the franchisee from indulging in unfair practices (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2016a). Furthermore, it was also required on part of the trade unions to ensure that the franchisee followed the regulations and legislations drawn for empl oyee protection. By allowing a lower percentage to be paid to the employee, the trade unions failed to do their work. These actions of the trade unions highlighted the gaps in the Australian employment relation system, where the unions failed to do the role given to them, thus leading to the employee having to face so many hardships. Implications of Inquiry Even though 7 Eleven was a huge ruckus, it could still prove to be of help, particularly for the future. The inquiry conducted into the affairs of the franchisee has opened the requirements of the regulations associated with employment relations to be taken care of in a stringent manner. The first and foremost implication of this inquiry was to acknowledge what went down in 7 Eleven, and to take real and significant steps for dealing with the mess created by the franchisee. It not only opened the need for improvement in the working of 7 Eleven, but presented an overall guide to the rest of the companies operating in the nation. Some of these have been highlighted in this segment. There is a need for sustained changes in the behaviour from top to down, in all the organizations for enhancing their present practise and for identifying any such cases which could lead to a second 7 Eleven like scenario. There is an immediate need of rebuilding and promoting a culture of compliance where strong leadership is deployed for the purpose of focusing on this task. The need is of strict adherence to the different regulatory frameworks to the line of taxation laws, immigration laws, corporation laws and the competition laws. The inquiry into 7 Eleven also highlighted the need for the state and the union to play a proactive role in the employment relations. And such cases, where the employees are intimidated for reasons like going beyond their visa requirements and limits, need to be reported to the government, instead of intimidating the employees and underpaying them. The exploitation of the visa holders need to stop (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2016a). Steps should be taken by the trade unions to stay in touch with the Fair Work Ombudsman. And also takes steps towards informing the employees of their available rights. Above all this, there is a need for the employees to be given a safe working environment, where their dues are paid properly. The inquiry into the 9 Eleven highlighted the gaps in the employment relation system present in the nation. And this requires steps to be taken from not only the state and the unions, for the important role held by them in this regard, but for the employers also, by inculcating and promoting compliance, instead of finding loopholes or showing false statements. Lastly, the employees have to keep raising their voice against any such incident where their rights are breached (Colling Terry, 2010). Conclusion The above discussion highlights the major blunder which was created through the incident of 7 Eleven. This was a case where the employers tapped on the helplessness of the employees. Even though the visa requirements were being exploited by the employees, it did not give the right to the franchisee to take advantage of their position, which was done in this case. The employees were paid less than half of the standard rate and were threatened with deportation in case they raised their voice. This case highlighted the failure of the state and the union in protecting the employees and showcased the gaps in the standards which are normally adopted in the nation, owing to the roles played by the state and the union in employment relations of the nation. The implications of the inquiry for the regulation of employment relations in Australia lie in this case being taken as a guide for the other companies, the trade unions, the state and the employees in taking timely steps against any such hardships which breach the welfare of the employees. References Balnave, N. (2009). Employment Relations in Australia. Milton, QLD: John Wiley Sons Australia. Bennett, J.T., Kaufman, B.E. (2011). What Do Unions Do?: A Twenty-Year Perspective. London: Transaction Publishers. Calveley, M., Shelley, S. (2017). Learning with Trade Unions: A Contemporary Agenda in Employment Relations. Oxon: Routledge. Colling, T., Terry, M. (2010). Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice (3rd ed.). West Sussex: John Wiley Sons. Commonwealth of Australia. (2016). Proactive Compliance Deed. Retrieved from: https://www.wagerepaymentprogram.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/7-Eleven-FWO-Proactive-Compliance-Deed.pdf Crawshaw, J., Budhwar, P., Davis, A. (2014). Human Resource Management: Strategic and International Perspectives. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Danckert, S. (2016). Fair Work Ombudsman takes 7-Eleven store owner to court over unpaid wages. Retrieved from: https://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/fair-work-ombudsman-takes-7eleven-store-owner-to-court-over-unpaid-wages-20160406-gnzrhj.html Dibben, P., Wood, G., Klerck, G. (2011). Employment Relations: A Critical and International Approach. London: The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Dundon, T., Rollinson, D. (2011). Understanding Employment Relations (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Fair Work Ombudsman. (2016a). Statement on 7-Eleven. Retrieved from: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/news-and-media-releases/2016-media-releases/april-2016/20160409-7-eleven-presser Fair Work Ombudsman. (2016b). A Report of the Fair Work Ombudmans Inquiry into 7-Eleven. Retrieved from: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/763/7-eleven-inquiry-report.pdf.aspx Ferguson, A., and Danckert, S. (2016). 7-Eleven: Fair Work Ombudsman says admit exploitation complicity. Retrieved from: https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/fair-work-ombudsman-calls-on-7eleven-to-admit-exploitation-complicity-20160406-go077o.html Foot, M., Hook, C. (2008). IntroducingHuman Resource Management (5th ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. James, N. (2016). Statement on 7-Eleven. Retrieved from: https://www.medianet.com.au/releases/78435/ Karp, P. (2016). 7-Eleven workers beaten and forced to pay back wages, Senate inquiry hears. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/05/7-eleven-workers-beaten-and-forced-to-pay-back-wages-senate-inquiry-hears Loudon, R., McPhail, R., Wilkinson, A. (2015). Introduction to Employment Relations (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forrest, NSW: Pearson Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald. (2015). How 7 Eleven Is Ripping Off Its Workers. Retrieved from: https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2015/7-eleven-revealed/ Williams, J. (2017). The Role of Trade Unions in Industrial Relations. Retrieved from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/role-trade-unions-industrial-relations-65197.html Williams, S. (2017). Introducing Employment Relations (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Woodley, N. (2016). 7-Eleven workers physically intimidated and beaten, Senate inquiry hears. Retrieved from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-05/7-eleven-workers-physically-intimidated-and-beaten/7144460 Advanced Studies In Industrial Relations – Myassignmenthelp.Com Questions: What Would Be The Factors Which Led To Non-Compliant Activities? Was There Anything In Disguise, And If Yes How? How Could It Be Revealed And Who Was Accountable For It? Answers: Introduction This report explains the key features of employment relations system in the past 10 years in Australia. There has been an existing system of collectivebargaining amongthe unions and states, which has been developing from the year 1980s. As per the OECD report of 2009, the employee participation rate assesses the rate of working age people which are economics active. This proportion of Australians has risen from 74.05% in the year 2002 to 75% in the year 2009 (Davies Freedland, 2015). This rise has been very less in the period of five years because there was much more for improving and catching up with other advanced nations. Summary of the 7-Eleven inquiry In June 2014, the investigation by Fair Work Ombudsman started with anenquiryfor complaints of huge underpayment of wagesand depictionof falsified environment records in lots ofFranchiseenetworks of 7-Eleven (Hannan Hannan, 2017). It is a big convenience retailer of Australia. This investigation was carried out for checkingthe complaintby connected site inspections and also the inspection of the record keeping of around 20 stores which were taken as samples. Thisinvestigation haddifferentenquiriesof 7Eleven stores. This investigation suggested that franchisees had made false and misleading records for satisfying the audits and salary principles and they were underpaying the staffs. Why was inquiry done and what were the major findings The study was done because from 2008, there was continuous reporting from workers who alleged that there washugeunderpayment of wages. The important matter was that there was rising proof of underpayment connected to fraudulent records. Specifically, it was seen that employers were lessening the number of hours as devoted by the staff members to record as if they were paid higher salariesthentheir actual wages. In 2008 and 2009, there were dozens of audits carried out by FWO for the convenience stores of Sydney and Melbourne (Forsyth, 2017). The results of such investigations showed that Sydney is convenientstoreat over In Melbourne,investigationrevealed thatthere were approximately AU$112,000 in wages recovered for 88 workers at five convenience stores. One of the stores was given instructions tocredit aroundthousand hours oftheir yearlyleaves back to 12 permanent employees who were not using their leave entitlements. The chief concern recognized in the audits was underpayment of price rates for weekends and night shiftwork (Adele Ferguson, 2017). Although the substantiation did not imply the double hours system was general, the FWO recorded with concern that a lot of underpaid personnel were youthful worldwide students and mainly exposed to mistreatment. As per the enquiry, there was this huge employee exploitation carried out by the business. It was a fraud in case of wages. There had been falsified timesheets and roasters and this instant to be unlawful and fraudulent activity. It was seen that more than 69% of the outlets of the business had issues related to the payroll compliances along with fraudulent activities with respect to time rosters and records in single month only (Danckert, 2017). It was also seen that around six weeks had passed away in a few staff members were not even paid and also many were underpaid along with the Melbourne-based franchisee with holding the passport and driving license of employees. Generally the exploited individuals for students who had been on a student visa to Australia (Fusco, 2010). It was important to carry out an inquiry because it permits to glance further largely for recognizing the root causes. Enforcement act, together with court case, is only one part of the examination method (Kramer, 2016). The general method looks forward to set up drivers of non-compliance and recommend suggestions looked forward to sustainable agreement, on the element of the topic of the investigation and ahead. As per the fair works act, one can always investigate into any activity or exercise that might be in contradiction to the act, affair was entity or protection net contractual entitlements ("Employment and Workplace Relations", 2017). Therefore this kind of enquiry was carried out for identifying if the basis of allegations phone were of any grave non-compliance within the outlets. In case these allegations were serious then: In case any lawyer is unable to maintain the records under the FWA regulations then he can be imposed a penalty and issued an infringement notice. The highest penalty for such contraventions is usually lesser than the penalty for inability to abide by which obligations ("Welcome to the Fair Work Ombudsman website", 2017). Also creation of misleading, fraudulent or falsified records is a grave non-compliant attitude. It is so serious because it is carried out intentionally and it can also cover all other contraventions. It was also seen in the case of 7Eleven that the culture of acceptance of lower wage rate was there. And most of the employees were aware of their underpayment. It was the work culture and they were allowed to work more than what was allowed as per their Visa requirements. Even the workers who did not like this kind of culture were asked to quit and resigned from the job. There was a sense of loyalty when the workers did not complain about their bosses. The Australian workplace laws lay down the responsibility of employers for providing the worker entitlements (Rathmell, 2011). Looking at these laws, the franchisor is not directly liable for the workers of the business. The FW Act lays down the way in which legal duties and rights of employment relationship lie with the worker and the employer. But this also allows the expansion of liability for contraventions of the place of roles to individuals who are used for such contraventions. Recommendations There were serious non-compliances happened wherein FWO could not find out any remedy. There were different factors which contributed to the non-compliance and series of non-compliance led to huge investigations. Dealing with the workplace relations non-compliance for the visa holders is a preference for the FWO (Eldor Vigoda-Gadot, 2015). In the given situation, the grave and intentional breach is could not be eradicated. Therefore for this report it is recommended that FWO targets this company and sets different regulatory frameworks for various companies which are part of franchising groups so that the social and communal regulations are met with provision of fair, equal and protected job opportunities for each and every worker. There can be implementation of effective governance systems so that: all the related Commonwealth rules and regulations are abided with respect to line management responsibilities (Forsyth, 2016), creation of verifiable and transparent payroll arrangements, understanding of franchisees, third-party suppliers and workers, procedures of identification, escalation and addressing of possible non-compliances, Review of operational models so that workplace laws are achieved. Critically analyse any gaps in the Australian ER system that this inquiry raises in regard to the role of the state and the role of unions. The employee relations refer to entire relation among employer and the staff members with respect to setting up of terms of employment (Ganopolsky, 2006). Although previously, the term Industrial Relations was utilised for describing this relation but now it has been substituted by a bigger term known as 'workplace relations'. Even though the two areas are same, Industrial Relations is generallyconcerned with the solution of conflicts among employees and employers. With respect to employee relations, employee is an asset and not the cost therefore two-way communication has to be developed with the goal-oriented approach. The employee relations are not only concerned with the workers salaries and conditions rather it is the procedure by which these terms of employment are decided (Advanced workers compensation, 1999). In some manner, theWorkplace Relations Act 1996was just created as per the groundwork of reform initiated previously by the Labour Party however the active application of legal rules to individualise the employment relation symbolizes a fresh point in Australian labour law (A guide to employers' rights in relation to industrial action, freedom of association and right of entry, 1998). The impact of rules focussed to deregulate the labour marketing has been usually discreet and usually was unsuccessful to match their guarantee. The chief results can be reviewed as be: The mainly straightforward impact has been to formalise and partially expand disintegrated bargaining. In 1989 around 23% of places of work had a kind of enterprise contract; by 1995 this has increased to 35% (Azizul Islam Jain, 2013). At the present Lot of contracts are rubberstamped and get little inspection, only some totally substitute rewards and several are 'model contracts'. The models are laid usually by employers the same as they are by unions. Rather than the outbreak of ground-breaking contracts, alliance at place of work and flexibility assured by supporters of deregulation, the alterations they have initiated have simply caused a revival of unilateral managerial influence, a tapering of bargaining pre-engaged with problems relating to hours of employment and increasing wage disparity. The set up of reconciliation and mediation arrangements promoted the quick development of Australian unions and, less importantly, employer alliances. By 1921, around 50% of the Australian labour force was a part of union/s. Density of the Australian union has altered from this time reducing to 40% for the period of the 1930s and subsequently increasing once more to the maximum of 65% in 1953 (Australian master workplace relations guide, 2009). Union density in Australia has been reducing gradually over the precedent 30 years. In 1990, the union density had been 49% of the whole staffs and in the year 2016, it was 12.5%. There was centralised wage system which was reinstalled after 1981-82 wages blast. There had been a really switch off policy by the Fraser government and a centralised wage freezing was initiated by the commission in 1982. After the election of Australian Labour Party (ALP) in 1983, there was a reason to introduction of centralised wage indexes. As per the price and income contract between the Australian Council of trade unions and ALP, the trade unions approve of making "none additional claims quote for the real wage when tennis court over time in ", arises in social wages and inclusion of unions in making strategies. The lack of an approach for incorporating the wage creation into macroeconomic strategy was there. The Labour government try to utilise expended financial and monetary policies for promoting investments, development and employment devoid of any union-based inflationary wages web. There was the use of arbitration institutions for regulating the wages and in the beginnin g the page draft had been in range of 1.5% to 2.5% with lesser industrial disputes. Therefore the loss of working days due to this dispute was decreased to 228 days, which had been 797 days per thousand employees, earlier. Also it brought the cream placement of job creation target of 500,000 fresh jobs in the next six months by the beginning of November 1985 (De Cocker, Duncan, Short, van Uffelen Vandelanotte, 2014). Restriction on Union Action Industrial action will be safeguarded only when it happens at some stage in a bargaining phase and is suggested by lots of workers in an undisclosed survey. Industrial action supporting an industry contract like model bargaining or beyond the good faith bargaining wont be secure. Additionally, employers are permitted to go instantly to court, without any AIRC certificate, if they experience any risky industrial action Implications of the inquiry for the regulation of ER in Australia not just 7 Eleven Australian Employment relationship system provides with safety of a few of the minimum terms and conditions of employment and various Rights and duties linked with the place of work. There are radius of climate legislation is that have you factored work this all over Australia. Along with every employment act which is applicable, there are various acts in every state and central government which safeguards individuals from any kind of discrimination. Each state government has different acts. WithinAustraliaexternal regulations are of many kinds. The industrialtribunalsarrangement is perhaps thehighlyseen and again on.Moreoverthere are different state and federal regulations which control the features of employment andorganisationslike equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination in jobs. The major perception of external laws isofregulatory laws, this can also be voluntary. The multi employer systems like occupation based wage rates or industrybased wagerates are some of the exclusive and useful regulations. The training systems like apprenticeship at work can also have informal and formal exteriorly created laws which regulate the factors ofworkplaceacts. Wages and hours are the leading problems in employment contracts: enterprise bargaining has not, usually speaking, been applied as a medium for 'best practice' yet as a substitute has supported and established the disintegration of working hours among part-timers and the time-span of operational hours among whole-timers. The other main impact is an extremely quick expansion in wage disparity and inequality. workforce on reward rates, incapable to negotiate business agreements, have got 1-2 % yearly, workforce included by enterprise contracts have experienced their wages increase 4-6% and those included under the individual agreements have got somewhere among 0-8% yearly.In the collective agreements segment, there are huge disparities in wage results too. Wages expansion in a few industries like mining and construction has noticeably out-rated different industries like the hospitality and retail. Wages disparity is happening inside industries too. Conclusion Employment relation is made whenever an individual sales his efforts to any other individual or organisation and is working on his or businesses Bihar. This employment relation has two major steps which are the marketing transactions and product relationship. This Report considers the employment relations to be the powerful way of dealing with it increasing efficiency of the business, industry and country. The inner scope of the law can also be informal and formal and the highly known and clear formal regulations seen and businesses are the regulations and processes which are created by the management and documented in the staff manuals. These lay down their obligations and Rights and also manage the issues like grievance handling and processes of employee disciplines. When these issues are not documented and the rules are not related then generally the employers unilaterally decide about the issue just like any other practice of management (Lydall, 2008). The rules and regulations of businesses can also be created on the mutual understanding of employers, workers and unions. These regulations can be extremely informal and just prevalent on the kind of practices and Customs followed. This can also be quiet formal like the negotiation of enterprise contracts and registration under the workplace relations act. Specifically negotiating contracts are one more sample of rising significance of internal formal laws. The supporters of the regulation look forward to raise the importance of inner regulations at the cost of external modes. As per this arrangement the managers decide about the regulations and they can do so unilaterally or after consulting the workers. The regulations which arise from all of the business are dumb to be insensitive to the specific requirements and are observed as inefficient. Under the regulation, it is not suggested anywhere that the loss created by managers have to be eliminated. 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