Late last year, former federal MP Richard Evans – after building up the Franchise Council of Australia to be a strong representative national body - took up the post of the ARA’s Executive Director.
“Part of the process of re-building the ARA to its rightful place as the country’s peak retail body is the appointment of a team of people who can share the vision and deliver the services members expect and demand,” Evans said.
“One of the ARA’s key service areas is employment relations advice and consultancy. As the only retail body who is incorporated under the Workplace Relations Act, and with a view to further assisting members through this time of incredible change in industrial relations, the ARA has appointed Phil Barresi as its Director Employment Relations.
“Barresi will head a team based in Sydney and Melbourne and is focused on providing increased services to the market expanding into OHS and HR and recruitment. He has an extensive background in human resources management and industrial relations prior to serving twelve years as the federal member for Deakin in Victoria. As a parliamentarian, Barresi chaired various committees specialising in industrial relations and adds a strong policy competency to the ARA,” Evans said.
Barresi plans to redevelop the Employment Relations department’s capacity and will work with the Labor government putting forward concerns expressed by the retail industry about reform to workplace legislation and policy.
“We have to work with the new structure, however we will be putting the case forward that statutory agreements should be allowed and the government’s transitional agreements should continue on. We’ll also be expressing concern about the uncertainty surrounding the government’s plan to change unfair dismissal laws. Until now retailers have been willing to take a chance on employees with no experience because the risk of incurring an unfair dismissal charge is low. We need to find a balance between what is fair for employees and what is workable for employers. The last thing we want to see is a casualisation of the workforce, leaving many employees with no security or benefits usually available to part time or full time employees,” Barresi said.
Barresi says that he plans to expand the scope of the ARA’s Employment Relations division beyond industrial relations advice and lobbying. Under the new structure, the ARA’s Employment Relations department will provide advice on a wide range of issues related to workplace relations such as performance management, human resources, recruitment strategies and occupational health and safety.
“Retail businesses don’t always have the resources to employ human resources experts who are across the latest developments in all aspects related to employing staff. We will be bringing in experts to provide retailers with resources pertaining to all workplace relations issues so that the ARA becomes the premier workplace relations advisory service in the retail sector. We also plan to introduce training programs for various HR practices such as mediation, counselling, negotiating salary and conditions with employees and creating a safe work environment.”
