Bringing unions and employer groups together in a collaborative manner

In response to the election of the Australian Labor Party (Labor) to Federal Government, the

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACI) congratulated Labor and took a pluralist

stance by stating: “ACCI will seek to be an active participant in Labor’s proposed employment summit.

Bringing unions and employer groups together in a collaborative manner will be an important

opportunity to reform our ailing enterprise bargaining system, bolstering productivity and driving

higher wages growth”.

Identify and discuss likely points of disagreement that might impede achieving collaboration on

reforms to the industrial relations system at the proposed employment summit. In your discussion,

use Boxall and Purcell’s four goals of human resource management (HM) to characterize why

employers may advocate different reforms from Labor and unions.