ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – dispute about matter arising under agreement – s.739 Fair Work Act 2009 – application by Coates Hire under dispute resolution procedure in accordance with terms of Coates Hire Operations P/L National Agreement 2012 (Agreement) – on 20 April 2016, applicant wrote to 10 affected employees and proposed to stagger their commencement times between 7:00am to 9:00am – all affected employees’ ordinary hours were 6:54am to 3:00pm, not including overtime – proposed change would not affect total number of ordinary hours rostered but would create two shifts: 7:00am to 3:00pm and 8:54am to 5:00pm – proposed change would only change the start and finishing times of some of the affected employees – affected employees and respondent maintained applicant could not change commencement time unless it was by majority agreement – Agreement incorporated the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award 2010 (Award) – applicant submitted Agreement was silent on manner in which it could direct employee’s hours of work, however, because Agreement incorporated Award, it was necessary to review relevant provisions of Award – asserted Clause 36.2 of Award contained explicit right for it to exercise discretion as to when hours were worked – contended it had consulted with employees and their representatives in compliance with Clause 9.2 of Award – respondent submitted Clause 36.2 simply granted employer discretion to fix daily quantum of hours, not starting and finishing times – contended Clause 36.5 of Award provided mechanism for arranging ordinary hours of work – interpretation of Award and Agreement – Golden Cockerel applied – Commission found words used clearly stated intention to exclude facilitative provision and flexibility term of Award from Agreement – agreed with applicant that Clause 36.5(a) of Award was facilitative provision and therefore not incorporated into Agreement – held applicant could exercise unilateral right to direct affected employees to work ordinary hours at different times to their current ordinary hours – agreement with majority of affected employees not required – satisfied applicant had undertaken relevant consultation with affected employees and representatives – Commission recommended changes to affected employees not occur until Tuesday, 17 April 2017 to enable arrangements to be made for school pick-up obligations for employees with school-age children – dispute determined. Coates Hire Operations P/L t/a Coates Hire v ‘Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union’ known as the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU)
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