ENTERPRISE BARGAINING – protected action ballot – ss.412, 437, 443 Fair Work Act 2009 – applications by National Union of Workers (NUW) for protected action ballot orders (PABOs) granted by Commission – reasons for decision – Commission heard applications for PABOs concerning employees at three different locations (Laverton North, Barnawartha, Broadmeadows) who would be covered by three separate enterprise agreements – respondents to each application are subsidiaries of one company – NUW had suggested to each respondent that parties engage in a ‘two stream’ bargaining process which would involve delegates from each locations consider issues common to all locations, and then see delegates from each individual location consider remainder of issues – respondent opposed this approach – parties commenced bargaining – NUW sought PABOs – respondents submitted NUW engaging in pattern bargaining – NUW submitted it was genuinely seeking agreement with respective employers at each site – fact that NUW has a ‘multi-site bargaining policy’ does not of itself contradict this assertion, nor does co-ordinated nature of PABO application – Commission not satisfied NUW pursuing uniform claims at the three sites – respondents also claimed NUW pursuing claims not pertaining to the employment relationship by seeking restrictions on outsourcing and use of contractors – case law highlighted by respondents did not support this contention – not necessary to finally determine whether these matters pertain to employment relationship as such matters only relevant to determination of application and not determinative of it – Commission satisfied NUW genuinely trying to reach agreement – no exceptional circumstances warranting extension of three day notice period – PABOs granted. National Union of Workers v Woolstar P/L and Anor
November 9, 2017
ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – dispute about matter arising under agreement – s.739 Fair Work Act 2009 – dispute under the terms of the CSL Agreement 2015 concerning the intention of the respondent to alter the method of payment of shift penalties to some shift workers – agreement states the employer and affected employees may consider a proposal that shift penalties be averaged over an agreed period – applicant submitted that in order to implement an averaged penalties system, the agreement required mutual agreement – applicant further submitted that an agreement was already in place for many years and that the respondent cannot unilaterally terminate an agreement to average shift penalties – alternatively the applicant claims that to unilaterally change the remuneration system constitutes an extra claim under the agreement – the respondent submitted that they are permitted to alter the method of payment of shift penalties in accordance with the consultation term – Commission held the respondent cannot use an internal decision making process to remove its capacity to consider a proposal that shift penalties may be averaged over an agreed period – the respondent cannot rely on the consultation term to remove payment of shift penalties on an averaging basis from those employees who are currently receiving it – it is a term of the agreement that the respondent is able to consider a proposal from affected employees that shift penalties by averaged over an agreed period – the respondent cannot unilaterally withdraw its ability to consider a proposal from affected employees that shift penalties be averaged over an agreed period – the decision of the respondent to cease paying affected employees shift penalties on an averaging basis does not constitute an extra claim for the purposes of the agreement – the respondent cannot unilaterally remove the payment of shift penalties on an averaging basis whilst clause 12.6 remains in the agreement – the parties may elect to negotiate and agree on a variation to the agreement – application dismissed. National Union of Workers v CSL Limited
November 8, 2017
The Fair Work Commission is scheduled to hear twenty-one unfair dismissal/labour dispute applications today. The full list is: Kascorp Pty Ltd (Brigante), The Camberwell Grammar School (Dai), Linfox Australia Pty Ltd (Howell), Whitehouse Institute Pty Ltd (Medved), Micador Australia Pty Ltd (Sanders), Infor Global Solutions (ANZ) Pty Ltd (Walker), Bendigo Kangan Institute (Hodgson), Resource People Pty Ltd (McDonald), Pioneer Credit Acquisition Services Pty Ltd (Wall), Narcissist Pty Ltd (Crookshanks), Civicon Civil and Project Management Pty Ltd (Hoyles), Sydney Trains (Malik), Trentsha Pty Limited (Mack), Laing O’Rourke Construction Australia Pty Ltd (Rios Garces), Drexler Litigation Lawyers Pty Ltd (Miskovic), Australia Post (Holmes), Basetec Services Pty Ltd (Ibbet), Foxtel Management Pty Ltd (Duffin), Ricoh Australia Pty Ltd (Lyras-Hull), Department of Social Services (Amess), Asian Hands (Liang).
November 7, 2017
Melbourne Cup certainly stops the Fair Work Commission. Only nine unfair dismissal/labour dispute cases will be heard today. The list is: BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty Ltd (Sargent), High Five Pizza Pty Ltd (Azad), Hays Recruitment (Nisha), Henderson Haulage P/L (Spark), Bethell Flooring Pty Ltd (Howe), Mega Admin Services Pty Ltd (Glancy), St Stanislaus’ College Bathurst (Coote), Winder Controls Australia Pty Ltd (Ghate), Telstra Corporation Limited (Milonas).
November 6, 2017
The Fair Work Commission will today process twenty-one unfair dismissal applications. The full list is: Hairhouse Warehouse (Joliff), Telstra Corporation Limited (Milonas), Hill Smith Holdings Pty Ltd (Schick), Traffic Logistics (Boesen), Qantas Airways Ltd (Staniforth), Duluxgroup (Australia) Pty Ltd (Giusti), Student Biryani Pty Ltd (Akhter), HUB24 Management Services Pty Ltd (Anderson), PBII TP Opco Pty Ltd (Copeland), Regis Aged Care Pty Ltd (Wang), Whitehouse Institute Pty Ltd (Medved), Ashton Manufacturing Pty Ltd (Turner), Mater Health Services (Mater Misericordiae Health Services Brisbane Limited) (Cook), Neirbo Real Estate Pty Ltd (Maglovski), ACT Government – Transport Canberra and City Services (Rodger), Rugs QLD Pty Ltd (Stuart), Alfies Towing (Collins), Expoelle (Forbes), Port Lincoln Football League Inc (Taylor), AHTS – Training and Education (Minutolo).
November 3, 2017
A modest caseload faces the Fair Work Commission today. The list of unfair dismissal/contract breach applications numbers only thirteen. The full list is: Energex Limited (Nahar), Aurrum Pty Ltd (Hoppenbrouwer), Telstra Corporation Limited (Strezoski), Artisan Wine Storage Pty Ltd (Oldfield), United Protestant Association of NSW Ltd (Grabovsky), The Woodworkers Company (Ireland), St Laurence Community Services Inc (White), Centacare Community Services Brisbane (Amey), Casabene Group (Claffey), Australian Federal Police (Gleeson), Marel Food Systems Pty Ltd (Hall), DBH Trust (Hibell), Prosegur Australia Pty Limited (Marie).
November 2, 2017
A mere eleven applications are listed for hearing in the Fair Work Commission today. The unfair dismissal/contract breach list is: Transport Canberra and City Services (Barr), Kmart Australia Ltd (Cortes), Sydney Trains (Duraisamy), Asciano Services Pty Ltd (Pemberton & Bryant and Others), Broadspectrum (Australia) Pty Ltd (Petch), Menzwear Direct Pty Ltd (McIntyre), Regis Aged Care (Jones), Enirgi Power Storage Pty Ltd (Robinson), Glenview Community Services Inc (Tanner), Ticar Pty Ltd ATF Ticar Family Trust (Christensen), Sydney Trains (Singh).
November 1, 2017
Twenty four unfair dismissal/labour dispute applications will be heard by the Fair Work Commission today. The full list is: Ultratune Roadside (Eblen), Woolworths Pty Ltd (AlChaher), Confident Smile Dental Surgery (Alcorn), Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (Novakov), Calvary Health Care Bruce (Kim), ACT Health Directorate (Hays, Jones), Anthony Costello Automotive (Hunter), Eureka Operation Pty Ltd (Garg), Ausino West Pty Ltd ATF The Supercrane Unit Trust (Raschilla), Freycinet Vineyards Pty Ltd (Bent), Paper Australia Pty Ltd (Smokovski), Anthony Costello Automotive (Hunter), Glenview Community Services Inc (Tanner), The Groove Train Northland (Birch), Bristow Helicopters Australia Pty Ltd (McCreadie, Rowland), Yancoal Australia Ltd (Hanckel), Anthony Costello Automotive (Hunter), Martin Sayle (Musumeci), Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (Queensland Section) Limited (Hardy), The GEO Group Australia Pty Ltd (Reihana), The GEO Group (Reilly).
