make up your mind, tony, page-68

oorain

An employer can sack any employee at any time without even giving a reason. The question is; was/is that dismissal lawful?

There is a great power disparity between the employee and employer with the employer holding most of the cards.

Having said that, employees have a right of association to a union. We have seen over the past 10 to 15 years a whittling down of the ability of unions to effectively represent employees for a number of reasons - thank you Mr Howard.

Employers are responsible for a whole range of standards as they relate to the workplace; a safe system of work and a duty of care to name but two.

Sadly, the standard of management in Australia is such that many middle managers are incompetent to the point of being willfully negligent in their day to day activities, their duties and responsibly.

Some companies simply hold their workforce in contempt, not realizing that their greatest asset is the people who work for them, preferring to look only at the bottom line of a financial sheet, seeking to mineralize any and all costs associated with those same employees.

What many employers do not seem to understand, is that a happy workplace/workforce, is a good workforce. It is good for their business, their profitability and is ultimately in the share holders interests in the event of that company being publicly listed to have and to foster a happy work place for all.

Short changing workers, turning a blind eye to unsafe work practice or unsafe working conditions or otherwise behaving in an unconscionable manner does little to further employers important goals.