ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – termination of agreement – s.225 Fair Work Act 2009 – application by Murdoch University for termination of the Murdoch University Enterprise Agreement 2014 (Agreement) after its nominal expiry date on 30 June 2016 – Agreement covered approximately 3500 employees, including academic and professional staff – Murdoch submitted it was suffering financially and contended the reason for bringing application was to free itself of constraints and impediments in Agreement to enable it to become more agile in meeting new challenges within constantly changing, globally competitive education landscape – submitted it was considering a number of new projects which could create 21,000 full time jobs and create research opportunities, but some provisions in Agreement could slow or inhibit projects from being implemented – Unions contended evidence did not support conclusion Agreement was the cause of Murdoch’s financial situation nor did it prevent Murdoch from addressing challenges – Murdoch took issue with 24 of the Agreement’s 110 clauses in relation to staff behaviour, workplace change, ability to control workforce numbers, and other clauses it claimed to add expense and/or involve inefficiency – Commission accepted clauses viewed as problematic and considered whilst similar clauses could be found in other universities agreements, in some circumstances, these clauses imposed significant constraints on how Murdoch operated and managed its employees – further held some clauses were overly prescriptive and unwieldy which hindered Murdoch from making changes to respond to its financial circumstances – bargaining thus far had been unsuccessful – Commission noted negotiations have been lengthy with little movement on both sides – Commission concluded no reason to believe parties were likely to settle agreement in foreseeable future – Aurizon considered in relation to public interest – Commission held evidence showed there would be small positive impact for state and national economies if Agreement terminated – Commission disagreed with Unions’ contentions that terminating Agreement would undermine public benefits of University and academic freedom – considered views of employees covered by Agreement, indicating strong opposition to termination – Commission satisfied termination of Agreement not contrary to public interest and held it may support good faith bargaining – Commission satisfied if Agreement is terminated Murdoch would have fewer constraints on how it managed employees and operations which will support it in its endeavours to improve its financial circumstances – Commission considered if Agreement is terminated, this will promote further bargaining – higher likelihood parties will successfully complete negotiations for new agreement – Commission satisfied appropriate to terminate Agreement – termination of Agreement to operate on and from 26 September 2017 – application granted. Murdoch University Enterprise Agreement 2014
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