ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – dispute about matter arising under agreement – s.739 Fair Work Act 2009 – dispute between union and respondent employer under terms of Alcoa World Alumina Australia WA Operations AWU Enterprise Agreement 2014 (Agreement) – question to be determined whether respondent contravened clause 19(a) of Agreement when issued written warning to two convenors working within respondent’s mining operations – in 2013 parties recorded agreement as to types of shorts that would be made available to employees under the WA Mining Dress Policy (Policy) – convenors required to comply with Policy – union convenors disagreed with requirement for compliance – respondent made arrangements for implementation of Policy in March 2015 – employees notified compliance mandatory at this time – two convenors continued to wear clothing which was non-compliant after March 2015 – written warnings issued by respondent to convenors in April and November 2015 – when respondent issued written warnings to two convenors in November 2015 it breached requirement to observe status quo that applied from time respondent first raised dispute in August 2015 – requirement to observe status quo under clause 19(a) of Agreement – status quo normal conditions or arrangements in existence immediately prior to cause of dispute arising – Commission held this comprised of three elements – firstly, Policy had been implemented and on its face applied to all employees; secondly, convenors continued to wear clothing which did not comply with Policy; thirdly, respondent refrained from applying disciplinary consequences to two employees for non-compliance – found respondent’s acts of issuing written warnings to two convenors in November 2015 for non-compliance with Policy was failure to observe status quo – held contravention of clause 19 (b) of Agreement. Australian Workers’ Union v Alcoa of Australia Limited t/a Alcoa World Alumina Australia
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