Fair Work Act: Caution needed as industrial law changes directions

The Fair Work Act has had its first birthday, and the impact of some of its provisions are becoming clearer as various cases are being decided by the Fair Work Australia Tribunal.

A recent decision by Fair Work Australia is causing concern for some companies. Even though no actual bargaining had taken place, the tribunal granted the union the privilege of taking "protected action". That is, the union became entitled to recommend strike action to its members even though no bargaining had taken place with the company. This case has been appealed to the Full Bench.

There is also evidence of increases in strike action, problems with unfair dismissal for smaller companies and problems with the inability of larger companies to negotiate collective agreements with their employees without union involvement as in the past.

Do you think the direction that Fair Work is taking us in is a good thing? Or are we swinging far too much in the other direction with the heavy involvement of unions?