Industrial Relation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Industrial Relation - Essay Example Restaurant businesses lack human resource management skills and resources and in turn employees lack union representation A penalty rate is an issue in the industrial relations facing by the restaurant industry (taken to also include cafà © operators and catering providers, but excluding large franchise operators). Penalty rates in particular have apparently caused restaurant owners cost difficulties. The employer pays the penalty for requiring workers to work at unsociable times such as late at night, weekends and public holidays. In the restaurant industry Saturday penalty rates are 1.25 times ordinary earnings, on Sundays the rate is 1.5 times, and on public holidays the rate is 2.5 times. Overtime, that is work beyond ordinary hours, also attracts penalty rates. The union view is that staff should not have to work at minimum wages during unsociable hours. The essential point of conflict for the restaurant industry is the need for some protection of the unskilled and vulnerable workforce contrasted with the need for restaurant owners to achieve an adequate level of business profit and return on equ ity in a very competitive and low margin business. This type of IR framework increases staff hiring pressure, because owners and managers face increased employment risks. The above trends indicate that penalty rates are likely to increase the risk of a restaurants failure. Small restaurant operators are very likely to use family members or ‘safe’ employees extensively to avoid industrial risks. The pluralist approach assumes that any employment relationship automatically has the potential for conflict and this is why effective conflict management so important, and this is the aim of Fair Work Australia. The role of the state is to protect the weak and to try and reconcile conflicting opinions and to keep conflict within