Strategies & Procedures in Negotiation

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1. What are the fundamental problems facing women wishing to improve on their employment within the workplace? The fundamental problems facing women in Australia include but are not limited to:
- Women are expected to uphold primary caring responsibilities. This means they also have to work and take care of their families;
- The prevalence of casual employment in part-time jobs means women are more likely to be employed on a casual basis overall-and in fact, hold 58 per cent of all casual jobs(Van Wanrooy, 2009).
- Casual employment is quite precarious, since women have no access to paid leave and work very inconvenient unpredictable hours. This also make it difficult for them to juggle work and family.
- They work in poorly paid occupations and industries, requiring low-skills, and have very limited representation in bargaining and hold many precarious employment positions;
- Women in Australia are more likely to be found in part-time, low-paid and low-qualified jobs. This position limits their ability to negotiate better employment outcomes;
- Major discrepancies and pay inequities and work conditions-and-treatments for women vs men;
- Those employed even on a casual basis are still losing their job and at higher rates than permanent employees, and increased work, burn out and exhaustion for those left behind;
- Lack of flexibility in rostering and even more staff are now required to work at inconvenient times many of which cut into 'family times;'
- Increased demand for hours by permanent nursing staff , because of male workers losing hours during the downturn. This led to fewer hours for casual nurses;
- Although the government has initiated the dialogue towards a move to full-time employment and an increase in casual employees. In essence, this will mean even more rigid work patterns, and employer- rather than employee-friendly flexibility, and overtime hours are not paid;
- Little to no Union representation; and
- Even women employed at the highest skilled, professional level, (69%) still cannot negotiate pay directly with their employer(Van Wanrooy, 2009); this is alarming, concerning and sad.

2. How would the representative prepare for the negotiations? Key ...