MGY9140

Wage determination - institutions, principles and methods

Not offered in 1999

One 3-hour session per week

Objectives On completion of this subject students should understand the structures of the system of national wage-fixing; the factors currently influencing wage levels at the enterprise level and the difficulties arising from the tensions inherent in the mixture of centralised and enterprise-based wage-fixing systems.

Synopsis The subject is divided into three parts. The first deals with the basic institutions of formalised industrial relations in Australia, including their origins, structure and processes. The second part examines the centralised wage fixing system operated by industrial tribunals, and the process of decentralisation since 1987 including the history of wage-fixing principles, current wage principles, and the wage policies of unions, employers and governments. The third section examines workplace wage payment systems and incentive systems, including payments-by-results, time-rate systems, overtime control, shift-work systems, measured day-work, job evaluation, profit-sharing, performance appraisal, and systems for employment/labour cost flexibility. The primary object of the subject is to familiarise students with the practical operation of wage fixation at both the tribunal and enterprise levels, and the problems and prospects for integrating these two spheres of wage determination.

Assessment Written (assignments 4000 words): 40% · Take-home examination: 60%

Prescribed texts

Deery S J and Plowman D H Australian industrial relations 3rd edn, McGraw-Hill, 1991
Dufty N F and Fells R E Dynamics of industrial relations in Australia Prentice-Hall, 1989

Back to the 1999 Business and Economics Handbook