Professor Julian Teicher, Associate Professor Anne Bardoel, Mr Tony Lawrence and Associate Professor Peter Gahan.



Gary Ryan, facilitator for the GSB Sampler from Organisations That Matter with students Corey Norris, Ben McDonald, Ha Nguyen, Bill Thompson and the Manager of the Education Office Ann Turner.

Lively forum sets the tone for GSB week 

The Monash Graduate School of Business hosted a stimulating forum on the proposed changes to workplace relations and their likely impact on management and employees. The open forum Forward with Fairness - an analysis of the Rudd government's proposed workplace relations changes took place at the Westin Hotel in Melbourne.

Mr Tony Lawrence, Workplace Rights Advocate, Professor Julian Teicher, Director of the Graduate School of Business at Monash University, Associate Professor Anne Bardoel and Associate Professor Peter Gahan from the Department of Management were the panel members who took an in-depth look at the government's proposed changes to workplace relations.

Professor Julian Teicher, said the Labor Government would either put employers offside by unwinding workplace relations laws too far or receive stinging criticism from unions by backtracking on key elements of its workplace relations policy, Forward with Fairness.

"The recently revived Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Your Rights at Work campaign reflects unions' concerns that the Government is backtracking on the policy announcements made before last year's election," Professor Teicher said.

"At the same time, the Government is treading cautiously wishing to avoid a repeat of the employer backlash which preceded the election.

"Employer organisations such as the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry are concerned the Government will go too soft on unions with the new laws, particularly in relation to right of entry and union rights to negotiate.

"It is clear that workplace relations issues will continue to be a major issue right through to the next election."

Professor Teicher said that while the concerns of employers could not be ignored, union membership was unlikely to increase dramatically from its current historically low levels regardless of what form the new laws took.

The GSB also showcased the leadership advantage students can gain through a Monash postgraduate business degree during the GSB Sampler event at Caulfield. Prospective students were told how to build their GSB advantage, through participation in co-curricula activities such as the career-readiness program, mentor program, employability, resume writing and interview skills workshops, to name but a few.  They learned first-hand about the GSB experience from workshop facilitators, academic staff and current students. For more information on GSB week go to http://www.gsb.monash.edu.au/gsb-week/index.html