Employers seeking to obtain a competitive advantage need to strike a balance between labour productivity, employment costs and staff engagement. We understand that a strong industrial relations strategy is critical to achieving this balance.
Our industrial relations service assists clients to:
- integrate workplace arrangements with operational objectives
- diagnose impediments to operational outcomes
- devise appropriate strategies to overcome impediments
- comply with legal obligations
- mitigate industrial relations risks
We provide practical, solutions-based advice that enables our clients to navigate the procedurally complex industrial relations regulatory regimes, and to achieve their commercial objectives while minimising legal and reputational risk.
We partner with clients in all areas of workplace relations including:
- business restructures and workplace reform
- industrial action, picketing and dispute management
- drafting and implementing individual and collective employment agreements
- union and individual workplace rights
- emerging workplace issues including drug and alcohol testing, sham contracting and the interaction of social media and the workplace
- obligations towards employee representatives, including information and consultation obligations
In the current environment, many employers are faced with litigation in response to initiatives they have taken. For others, litigation may be necessary to protect the business from debilitating industrial action. We provide an unparalleled depth of resources and experience to manage such litigation, be it locally or on a coordinated national or international basis.
Recent Experience
Laing O’Rourke
Advising in a successful resistance of the implementation of a 20/10 roster. This was one of the most significant union claims on major construction projects in recent years
Compass Group
Advising in connection with two dispute notifications bought under enterprise agreements applying to several hundred employees who were made redundant in NSW and Victoria. The disputes gave rise to test cases on the application of key legal principles about the obligation to make redundancy payments at the end of customer contracts
Grocon
Advising in relation to the CFMEU campaign of disruption at Grocon’s construction sites in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in pursuit of claims for access to sites and the engagement of union shop stewards
BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA)
Advising in relation to bargaining for a new enterprise agreement with the mining union and two other trade unions, involving approximately 3,000 mineworkers employed at seven BMA coal mines
An energy company
Advising in relation to numerous changes to personnel and their terms and conditions of employment in Europe as a result of the recent oil price decline. This has included advising on a contentious restructuring including redundancies and changes to the terms and conditions of the employees of their contractor
Wipro
Advising on the closure of a French site including advising on industrial relations strategy and negotiations with the employee representatives
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