This exciting new text is different from many of the employee relations textbooks currently available because it takes as its central theme the employment relationship between the employer and the employee. This reflects one of the major changes in employee relations over recent years: the increasing extent to which the individual relationship each of us has with our employer is central in shaping our working lives.

This is the ideal resource for students who need to gain a thorough understanding of contemporary issues and the practical skills needed for the workplace. Tony Dundon and Derek Rollinson clearly guide readers through the multitude of factors - economic, social, psychological and legal - that shape contemporary employment relations and management practice. Their student-friendly approach provides exercises, case studies and reflective questions - plus a wealth of additional resources online - designed to help readers think critically and apply their knowledge to real-world situations.

Understanding Employment Relations is for undergraduate and postgraduate industrial relations and employment relations students aspiring to, or holding, positions that involve the management of labour. The text addresses workplace governance under the Fair Work Act 2009, as well as the role oftrade unions, employer associations, collective bargaining processes, and various laws pertaining to contracts of employment, equal opportunity and occupational health and safety. It also situates these players and processes within a unified theoretical framework and how industrial relations andhuman resource management practices can be combined.Australia has one of the most legalistic industrial relations systems in the world: in recognition of Australia unique regulatory environment, employment law features prominently throughout the text to help students to understand the full panoply of laws and regulations governing workplacerelations.

It cannot be denied that in recent decades, for many if not most people, work has become unstable and insecure, with serious risk and few benefits for workers. As this reality spills over into political and social life, it is crucial to interrogate the transformations affecting employment relations, shape research agendas, and influence the policies of national and international institutions. This single volume brings together thirty-nine scholars (both academics and experienced industrial relations actors) in the fields of employment relations and labour law in a forthright discussion of new approaches, theories, and methods aimed at ameliorating the world of work. Focusing on why and how work is changing, how collective actors deal with it, and the future of work from different disciplinary angles and at an international level, the contributors describe and analyse such issues and topics as the following: new forms of social protection and representation; differences in the power relations of workers and political dynamics; balancing protection of workers’ dignity and promotion of productivity; intersection of information technology and workplace regulation; how the gig economy undermines legal protections; role of professional and trade associations; workplace conflict management; lay judges in labour courts; undeclared work in the informal sector of the labour market; work incapacity and disability; (in)coherence of the work-related case law of the European Court of Justice; and business restructurings. Derived from a major conference held in Leuven in September 2018, the book offers an in-depth understanding of the changing world of work, its main transformations, and the challenges posed to classical employment relations theories and methods as well as to labour law. With its wide range of insights, analysis, and reflection, this unique contribution to the study of industrial relations offers an authoritative reference guide to scholars, policymakers, trade unions and business associations, human resources professionals, and practitioners who need to deal with the future of work challenges.

Suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students in the areas of industrial and employment relations, personnel and human resource management, this work offers an original, accessible, and critical approach to understanding employment relations.

The most trusted and thought-provoking introduction to employment relations, this book examines key employee relations issues from a critical perspective using contemporary research and a wealth of real-life examples and carefully designed learning features.

This collection analyses the contribution of industrial relations to social science understanding.