Tool Box
Issue No. 31 - October/November 2006
Do you have the courage to change?
by Mr Shayne Bakewell
In an earlier edition of In-Business this year, I made the following observations:
“Despite the enormous opportunities available, the large majority of businesses appear to have either ignored the initial opportunity for change or have decided that everything is just fine as it is ...” and
“...the above begs a number of initial questions; however for the sake of future observations in this column I suggest the following...;
When it comes to managing employees, employee performance and the employment conditions that shape a business, an Australian business will tend to be inactive rather than proactive.”
Case Study
With some notable exceptions, this trend has continued since March. To examine what can be achieved, I will review the development relating an Australian-based international business — Gliderol Pty Ltd.
Gliderol was due in July of this year to renegotiate an enterprise agreement that had been in place for many years at its Holden Hill site.
The history of that site's enterprise agreement was not good. Gliderol were initially pursued to enter into the agreement and since that time negotiations with the union had been largely adversarial and unproductive. Over the past 10 years most negotiations have resulted in some form of industrial action.
There was not a lot of direct employee ownership of the enterprise agreement and communication about terms and conditions was restricted to union presentati...
