Reflections on the Commission’s Legacy in Legislated Minimum Standards

2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 698-717
Author(s):  
Marilyn Pittard
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
Minimum Standards ◽  
Hours Of Work ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Federal Statute ◽  
State Legislative

This article examines the extent to which the labour standards adopted by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and its predecessors have left a ‘legacy’ in the new legislated standards and dismissal protection in the Fair Work Act 2009. The Commission’s ‘community standards’, developed from ‘test cases’ and piecemeal from other decisions, will be explored, together with factors that had an impact on those decisions, including: the very nature of test cases; economic, social and public interest considerations; the federal statute; State legislative developments; and international influences. Case studies involving paid annual leave and standard hours of work will illustrate the Commission’s approach in its decision-making. Questions are posed as to whether the Commission has left guiding principles to achieve economic and social justice and assist future policymakers and regulators when they face similar decisions; and why some Commission standards were not legislated but may remain in awards.

Prison Crowding and the Evolution of Public Policy

1985 ◽  
Vol 478 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOAN MULLEN
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Budget Constraints ◽  
The Public ◽  
Minimum Standards ◽  
Eighth Amendment ◽  
The Future ◽  
American Prison

While crowding has been a persistent feature of the American prison since its invention in the nineteenth century, the last decade of crisis has brought more outspoken media investigations of prison conditions, higher levels of political and managerial turmoil, and a judiciary increasingly willing to bring the conditions of confinement under the scope of Eighth Amendment review. With the added incentive of severe budget constraints, liberals and conservatives alike now question whether this is any way to do business. Although crowding cannot be defined by quantitative measures alone, many institutions have far exceeded their limits of density according to minimum standards promulgated by the corrections profession. Some fall far below any reasonable standard of human decency. The results are costly, dangerous, and offensive to the public interest. Breaking the cycle of recurrent crisis requires considered efforts to address the decentralized, discretionary nature of sentence decision making and to link sentencing policies to the resources available to the corrections function. The demand to match policy with resources is simply a call for more rational policymaking. To ask for less is to allow the future of corrections to resemble its troubled past.

Democratic Rationales for Pre-Strike Ballots

2020 ◽  
pp. 189-213
Author(s):  
Breen Creighton ◽  
Catrina Denvir ◽  
Richard Johnstone ◽  
Shae McCrystal ◽  
Alice Orchiston
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Legal Requirements ◽  
The Public ◽  
Industrial Action ◽  
Democratic Rights

Chapter 7 interrogates the central issue in the book—the extent to which pre-strike ballot requirements give effect to the democratic rights of individual workers and the public interest in ensuring that the exercise of strike action is based on democratic decision-making. It argues that pre-strike ballot requirements are imposed on trade unions in a very different context when compared with other forms of political or industrial contests. The chapter analyses unions’ democratic processes in three interrelated, but different, key decisions in the process to take strike action under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth): (i) the decision to apply for an order for a pre-strike ballot to be held; (ii) the decision to approve proposed industrial action in a pre-strike ballot; and (iii) the decision to take approved industrial action after such action has been approved in a pre-strike ballot. Each of these decisions occurs within the context of the legal and industrial relations framework, and the democratic processes involved are inevitably shaped by those frameworks. The evidence presented in this chapter suggests that the first and third decisions are generally conducted in a manner that allows for participatory democratic processes. However, when union members vote in a pre-strike ballot, there is little evidence of the kinds of practices that typically characterize a participatory democratic model. Instead, union engagement with members is focused on educating them about the legal requirements and the consequences of abstention or a no vote in associated bargaining, rather than on the arguments for and against the proposed industrial action.

RAISE IT UP!! Youth Arts and Awareness

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Thomas-Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Youth Engagement ◽  
Literary Arts ◽  
Systemic Oppression ◽  
Creative Self

RAISE IT UP! Youth Arts and Awareness (RIU) is an organization that promotes youth engagement, expression, and empowerment through the use of performance and literary arts and social justice activism. We envision a world where youth are fully recognized, valued, and supported as artist-activists and emerging thought leaders, working to create a world that is just, intersectional, and inclusive. Two fundamental tenets shape RIU’s policies, practices, and pedagogy. The first is that creative self-expression and culture making are powerful tools for personal and social transformation. The second is that social justice is truly possible only if and when we are willing to have transparent and authentic conversations about the oppression children experience at the hands of the adults in their lives. We are committed to amplifying youth voices and leadership and building cross-generational solidarity among people of all ages, particularly those impacted by marginalization. Though RIU is focused on and driven by the youth, a large part of our work includes helping adult family members, educators, and community leaders understand the ways in which systemic oppression shapes our perceptions of and interactions with the young people in our homes, neighborhoods, institutions, and decision-making bodies.

From gradual erosion to revitalization: National Social Dialogue Institutions and policy effectiveness

2021 ◽  
pp. 095968012110183
Author(s):  
Igor Guardiancich ◽  
Oscar Molina
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Policy Effectiveness ◽  
Substantial Evidence ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
Socioeconomic Issues

We explore the factors behind the long-term erosion of National Social Dialogue Institutions (NSDIs) to provide insights about the conditions for their revitalization. By applying policy analysis insights into the industrial relations field, we argue that limited policy effectiveness goes a long way towards explaining the erosion experienced by many NSDIs worldwide in recent years. Drawing on a global survey and on case studies of NSDIs in Brazil, Italy and South Korea, we show that these institutions’ policy effectiveness crucially depends on combinations of their problem-solving capacity, an encompassing mandate to deal with relevant socioeconomic issues and an enabling environment that grants the inclusion of social dialogue into decision making. With regard to rekindling their role, the article provides substantial evidence that two sub-dimensions of effectiveness are key: enjoying political support and having an ‘effective mandate’ as opposed to relying on just a formal remit to deal with socioeconomic issues of interest.

scholarly journals International framework agreements: new paths to workers' participation in multinationals' governance?

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Schömann ◽  
André Sobzack ◽  
Eckhard Voss ◽  
Peter Wilke
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Social Regulation ◽  
International Level ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
The Impact

This article describes the results of a major study on the impact of codes of conduct and international framework agreements (IFAs) on social regulation at company level. The limits of labour legislation at the national, as well as the international, level provide a strong motivation for both multinationals and trade unions to negotiate and sign IFAs. IFAs offer a way to regulate the social consequences of globalisation and to secure adherence to labour and social standards. They thus form part of the growing political debate on the international working and production standards of private actors. Examination of the negotiation process, the motivations of the parties, and the content of the agreements and implementation measures provides valuable insights into the impact of IFAs on multinationals' behaviour in respect of social dialogue and core labour standards. Finally, the article highlights the influence of such agreements on public policy-making and the limits of private self-regulation at European and international level, addressing the growing and controversial debate on the need for supranational structures to regulate labour standards and industrial relations.

Deliberative Democracy and Public Dispute Resolution

2018 ◽  
pp. 709-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Susskind ◽  
Jessica Gordon ◽  
Yasmin Zaerpoor
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Strategy ◽  
Fact Finding

Deliberative democracy and public dispute resolution (PDR) have the same goal—to inform and determine the public interest—but they involve different skills and practices. This article considers the ways in which deliberative democratic approaches to policy-related decision-making can be supplemented with tools used in public dispute resolution—specifically, the use of an independent mediator, the well-developed technique of stakeholder assessment, and a new strategy called joint fact-finding, where stakeholders with different interests work together with outside experts to identify common assumptions, gather information together, and formulate and clarify opinions. All are designed to achieve fairer, wiser, more stable and more efficient outcomes.

Updating the International Seafarers' Code: Recent Developments

1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
George P. Politakis
Keyword(s):  
State Control ◽  
Private Placement ◽  
Hours Of Work ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
Changing Practices ◽  
Working And Living Conditions ◽  
First Time ◽  
Core Issues

AbstractMaritime labour matters have traditionally been of particular importance as far as the ILO's standard-setting function is concerned. To date, the ILO has adopted a total of 39 conventions and 30 recommendations-a body of labour standards known as the International Seafarer's Code-addressing the specific problems related to the working and living conditions of seafarers. The 84th (Maritime) session of the International Labour Conference, held in October 1996, undertook to revise core issues of this body of standards in the light of rapidly changing practices and needs of the maritime sector. This article traces briefly the negotiating history and highlights some of the most salient aspects of the new conventional instruments such as the setting of the minimum age for seafarers at 16 years, the adoption of a convention for the first time on labour inspection, the establishment of daily and weekly limitations on hours of work, the extension of port state control (as provided for in ILO Convention 147) in matters concerning hours of work and manning, or the recognition of private placement services for seafarers.

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