The world of work is rapidly changing. Now, more than ever, there is a need for a principles-based approach to providing fair and decent workplaces.

Eight years after drawing up the Australian Charter of Employment Rights and advocating for a rights-based approach to creating fair workplaces, the Australian Institute of Employment Rights once again brings together reflections on Australia's workplace relations system.

Written by some of Australia's preeminent industrial relations academics and practitioners, this publication considers the current state of Australia's industrial relations system as measured against the AIER's Australian Charter of Employment Rights, first published in 2007, and with reference to the AIER's Australian Standard of Employment Rights, published in 2009.

Preceded by an exploration of the relationship between employment rights and human rights, ten chapters focus respectively on each of the principles of the Charter and their ongoing relevance and relationship to contemporary Australian workplace relations issues.

'Never more than now has there been a need for a framework promoting productive interaction about policy, compromise and effective implementation. To be effective, such a framework needs to bring together and promote dialogue between civil society institutions, unions and the diverse representatives of employer, community and human rights interests. The contributors to this book provide further steps toward engaging with the framework established by the Charter and Standard.' – The Hon Paul Munro AM