Legal
Issue No. 9 - February/March 2003
Achieving Harmony
by Michael Hegarty
A civil servant is banned from wearing jeans at work, but his employer’s dress code permits him to wear a kilt, so he does. But one day, whilst his kilt is being washed, he turns up in jeans, and that’s when the trouble starts… Zookeepers impose a work ban on the collection of animal dung when their pay negotiations break down. They are further incensed when they learn of a proposal requiring them to manually masturbate a gorilla as part of an artificial insemination program. “What if he wakes up? one of them asks.
Scenes from a new comedy film? No, these are real scenarios played out recently in workplaces as employers and employees try to resolve their differences. It is no surprise that industrial and employee relations issues are many and varied. People work in all kinds of jobs. Employers range in size from sole proprietors to large multi-national conglomerates. Employees have many and varied qualifications, all individuals with their own ideas of right and wrong. Every issue will be coloured by the industry concerned and the individual character of the enterprise involved.
An issue that arises in my own practice is the question of who should wash the dishes (mainly coffee cups) generated during the working day. A seemingly minor matter like this can turn into a big issue. Our office, like many others, runs on coffee. Whose job is it to wash the cups? Is it fair that this duty falls repeatedly on one person’s shoulders, or should everyone contribute?
Some of the issues faced in the work place are minor while others are more substantial. We often hear of the major issues and forget the minor ones exist. Yet the minor matters, if left unattended, can become major issues. Industrial disharmony can start in a small way.
Workplace issues are addressed within the framework of the industrial relations system in Australia. This framework is also subject to many influences, including events on the...
