Subjects 2009
Bargaining at Work and Industrial Action 730760
- Credited Courses: Graduate Diploma in Labour Relations Law 188; Master of Labour Relations Law 510; Master of Laws (LLM) 502
Prerequisite
It is recommended that students without a law degree from a common law system have completed Employment Law.
Note
Students who have completed both Regulating Working Conditions and Trade Unions and Industrial Action may not undertake this subject.
Objectives
A student who has successfully completed this subject should:
- Have an understanding of the principles of Australian labour relations law promoting the setting of working conditions through both collective and individual negotiations at the workplace
- Be able to apply, at an advanced level, relevant legal principles to problem-solving exercises
- Understand the common law regulating the taking of industrial action, the regime for protected action under federal workplace laws and the differences between them
- Demonstrate an understanding of the role of law, and of institutions such as the common law courts and industrial tribunals in regulating workplace relations.
Syllabus
Principal topics will include:
- The constitutional basis of the federal system of labour relations law as it relates to regulating and making workplace agreements
- Relevant international legal principles and Australia’s obligations in this respect
- Theories and purposes of industrial action in workplace bargaining Common law regulation of strikes and industrial action
- The system regulating workplace bargaining under federal law, including the conduct of bargaining and the taking of protected industrial action
- The form, function and content of registered workplace agreements
- The relationship of workplace agreements to other means of regulating working conditions, including the contract of employment
- Special regulation of bargaining and industrial action in the building and construction industry.
