ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – dispute about matter arising under agreement – s.739 Fair Work Act 2009 – application to deal with a dispute under the Berri P/L (Leeton) Enterprise Agreement 2014- 2017 – dispute about the non-payment of a Laundry Allowance to employees – Berri also lodged an application to vary the Agreement in order to remove an ambiguity or uncertainty – both applications heard together – Golden Cockerel considered – Commission satisfied there was an ambiguity in the Agreement with respect to the Laundry Allowance – ambiguity arose from the failure of the Agreement to specify how the allowance is to be paid, and explain the basis of the payment – Agreement does not explain who is entitled to it, and there is no positive obligation to pay the allowance – clear that the specific entitlement words in the Agreement for the Laundry Allowance were deleted from the 1999 version of the Agreement – neither the AMWU officials nor delegates have raised the non-payment of the allowance for some 16 years – on the balance of probabilities the Commission accepted that the Laundry Allowance was bought out by the Company as part of a wages package for the 1999 version of the Agreement – 2014 Agreement needs to be read in the context of what went before it – satisfied that the correct interpretation of the Agreement is that there is no entitlement for employees to be paid the Laundry Allowance – Commission will not vary the Agreement to remove the reference to the Laundry Allowance as sought by Berri – nominal expiry date of Agreement is 1 February 2017, any re-drafting of the Agreement should be addressed by the parties in bargaining – application dismissed. “Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union” known as the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU)-New South Wales Branch v Berri Limited
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