An application for approval of the District Fire Systems Pty Ltd & CEPU NSW/NFIA Sprinkler Fitting Fire Protection Union Enterprise Agreement NSW & ACT 2015-2019 (s.185 – application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) will be heard by Fair Work Deputy President Gostencnik in his Sydney chambers.
May 11, 2016
A mere 14 unfair dismissal applications will be made before Fair Work Commissioners today. The full list is: Woodpend Pty Ltd (Lee), Harbour City Ferries Pty Ltd (McGarry), Patrick Stevedores Holdings Pty Ltd (Sharp), Sydney Trains (Steck), Croft Developments Pty Ltd (Tomlinson), Asciano (Reid), Delron Cleaning Pty Ltd (Federico), Microstrategy Pty Ltd (Formosa), QBE Management Services Pty Limited (Abdulrahim), Citywide Service Solutions (Stone), Eaton Services Group (Downs), St Ursula’s College Toowoomba (Elphick) and Broadspectrum (Australia) Pty Ltd (Jewell).
May 10, 2016
Only 17 unfair dismissal hearings are to be heard by the Fair Work Commission today. The full list is: TNT Australia Pty Ltd (Johnson), McLeay Family Trust (McIntyre), Whitech Pty Ltd (subsidiary of Fujifilm Australia) (Baychkov), Bunnings Group Limited (Campbell), Frankston City Council (Lean-Jones), Hampton Transport Services Pty Ltd (McMillan), Jenover Melbourne (Dean/ Harkness/ Johnson), DHHS – Department of Health and Human Services (Morag), BMS Retail Group Pty Ltd (Rigby), American Express Global Business Travel (Annacker), Derwent Valley Council (Bradley), Eaton Services Group (Downs), Aussie Lifts (Doe-Nunneh), Steelcon Pty Limited (Dwyer), Gramar Pty Ltd (Rann).
May 10, 2016
More pilots, engineers, cabin crew and ground staff, including refuellers, are turning up for work affected by alcohol or drugs including cocaine, methamphetamines and cannabis. Fourteen airline and airport employees working in “safety sensitive” roles across the nation failed drug and drink tests administered last year — up from 11 in 2014. While that represents just a small percentage of total staff, industry insiders said even one affected person raised safety alarms, given their critical roles in the safety of passengers and other people, and the rising number of positive tests was an even greater concern. An industry insider also raised concerns that others were going undetected. It comes after it was revealed last week that Qantas sacked a pilot after he groped a female co-worker while drunk and stoned on a stopover. Nine employees failed alcohol tests in 2015 — including an aircraft engineer, three airport ground staff, four cabin crew and a sport aviation flyer. The legal limit for alcohol is slightly lower than the standard drink-drive limit. And five people tested positive for drugs including three airport ground staff who tested positive for cannabis and methamphetamine. One student pilot tested positive for cannabis and an engineer tested positive for cocaine.
May 9, 2016
The Fair Work Commission has twenty-two applicants this morning seeking relief via s.394, s.773, s.372 and s.739 filings. The full list includes: Blamey Community Group (Adams), Ramcar (Legg), Avavda Aust Pty Ltd (Jun Ho), TJ Diner (Tusiupu), Taxa Australia Pty Ltd (Wang), VST Enterprises (Duggan), Murdoch University Child Care Centre (Abdul Rahim), Ramsay Health Care (Ionnidis), BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty Ltd (Adeley), SRG Limited (Duncan), Changeovers Pty Ltd (Newsome), St Albans Secondary College / Department of Education &Training & Dowsley (Talevska), UON Pty Ltd (Ni Mhorain), Dacland Pty Ltd (Sajjad), Royal District Nursing Service Limited (Hutchinson), Moonee Valley City Council (Toohey), Refresh Waters Queensland Pty Ltd (Bolton), ALS Industrial Pty Ltd (Cooper), Cooper Refineries Pty Ltd (Dennien), PTS Traffic Management Pty Ltd (Larnach), Alsco Pty Ltd (Robb), Houndstooth Pty Ltd (Wheare).
May 6, 2016
Thirty-six sweet innocent angels who believe they have been collectively wronged will today plead their case before the Fair Work Commissioners. The full list of lily-whites is listed and includes: Trend Laboratories Pty Ltd (Lowe), Stay in Bed Milk & Bread Pty Ltd (Malhotra), Blamey Community Group (Adams), West Coast Council (Billett), Labour Resources Central West Pty Ltd (Hodges), Sydney Trains (Chand), BigAir Group (Anand), Coles Group Supply Chain Pty Ltd (Collins/ Roberts), Access Group Solutions Pty Ltd (Kaur), Serco Australia Pty Ltd (Markovska), Australian Institute of Workplace Learning (Corolis), St John of God Health Care Inc (Tarus), Spotless Limited (Williams), Big Daddy’s Pty Ltd (Smith), Azza Family Day Care (Schurer), Ashton College Pty Ltd (Pohl), CSL Australia Pty Ltd (Blom/ Clothier/ Kohler/ MacDonald/ Rokov), UAM Pty Ltd (Collins), Boyle Smelters Limited (Maycock), Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd (Eakins), Veolia Environmental Services (Australia) Pty Ltd (Bradley), Golridge Pty Ltd (Solman), ALSCO Pty Limited (Podesta), TNT Australia Pty Ltd (Martin), Golden Cockerel Pty Ltd (Tuki), Secure Parking Pty Ltd (Syed), Les Brazier Special Valentines Pty Ltd (Hawkins), Balanced Habitats (Bronakowski), Como Glasshouse Unit Trust (McCulley), SA Motorcycles (Case), RCR Laser Pty Ltd (Laird).
May 6, 2016
ENTERPRISE BARGAINING – bargaining order – s.229 Fair Work Act 2009 – application for a bargaining order – CPSU alleged that bargaining had been impeded because of failure by Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to give genuine consideration to proposals made – alleged AEC failed to disclose relevant information – alleged failures relate to consultation clause and additional clauses, including domestic violence leave clause and NAIDOC/ceremonial/cultural leave clause – CPSU sought order which included process for fully authorised officers of the Australian Public Service Commission or the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service to be brought to the bargaining table – consideration given to the terms ‘bargaining representative’ and ’employing authority’ – found that ‘an employer that will be covered by the agreement’ (being a bargaining representative for the agreement) is a reference to the employer being the Commonwealth and that any of the following; ‘the Public Service Minister’, ‘The Agency Minister’, ‘The Agency Head’ or ‘an APS employee’ may be an employing authority so far as it is concerned with AEC bargaining – good faith bargaining requirements and Endeavour Coal considered – Consultation clause – CPSU alleges that AEC representatives were instructed by APSC about what could be proposed for agreement – CPSU allege as a result AEC failed to genuinely consider the CPSU proposal as well as failed to explain reasoning – Commission found evidence showed genuineness to bargaining – not satisfied there was failure to meet good faith bargaining requirements – Additional clauses – AEC alleged CPSU had not validly brought application regarding additional clauses – AEC argued CPSU had not raised additional clauses as a failure to meet good faith bargaining and that there continues to be bargaining regarding these clauses – Commission found CPSU had not complied with requirements of s.229(4)(b) of FW Act – found it not appropriate to consider the application notwithstanding it was not made in accordance with FW Act – found nothing in the AEC’s conduct regarding the additional clauses that would cause the Commission to find it had not met good faith bargaining requirements – Conduct of APSC or Minister – found no evidence that any other employer bargaining representative did not meet good faith bargaining requirements – found that a policy of some kind (whether written or not) is not unusual in bargaining – found not unusual for there to be negotiating instructions or parameters that limit authority of bargaining representatives – Esso considered – Disclosure of information – found information sought by CPSU has been provided by the AEC – application dismissed. CPSU, the Community and Public Sector Union v The Commonwealth of Australia (Acting through and represented by the Australian Electoral Commission and/or the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service)
May 6, 2016
ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – dispute about matter arising under agreement – ss.604, 739 Fair Work Act 2009 – appeal – Full Bench – appeal by Kentz against decision regarding application by CEPU to resolve a dispute in relation to notice of termination and rest and recreation provisions (R&R) of the Kentz (Australia) P/L Ichthys Onshore Construction Greenfields Agreement – grounds of appeal were that the Commission erred in exercising powers judicial in nature and outside remit of s.739 of FW Act – erred in mischaracterising R&R as akin to a leave entitlement that would be undermined by a period of notice of termination operating concurrently with it – erred in misconstruing clause 8.6(a) of agreement as preventing Kentz from providing a period of notice of termination in relation to a period of time including R&R days under predetermined work cycle – Full Bench granted permission to appeal in the public interest due to jurisdictional issue raised, broader implication for Ichthys agreements and error found in relation to characterisation of R&R – in relation to jurisdictional ground, Full Bench found Commission, in dealing with dispute under clause 18 of agreement, properly undertook role of private arbitration and was not engaged in the exercise of judicial power – appeal ground dismissed – in relation to the characterisation of R&R, Full Bench found Commission erred in characterisation of R&R in context of agreement and in the application of relevant authorities to R&R in that context – relevant element of first instance decision quashed, in particular findings that R&R a form of regulated and approved leave; notice of termination of employment unable to run concurrently with period of leave; pay in lieu of notice cannot assume employee would have been on unpaid leave for part of notice period and consequently reduce the amount of pay in lieu; and finding that in providing payment in lieu under agreement, notice could not be given such that it ran concurrently with a period of R&R – Full Bench determined relevant aspect of dispute itself and substituted its findings for those of Commission – held that R&R is properly characterised as the block of authorised non-work time which forms an integral part of the work cycle – employee whose employment terminated with payment in lieu would have worked the working hours established in their work cycle had their employment continued until the end of the minimum period of notice and would not have worked, or been paid in respect of, any R&R period which fell within the work cycle over that period of time – held no error by Commission with respect to clause 8.6(a) of agreement – appeal dismissed in relation to characterisation of clause 8.6(a). Appeal by Kentz (Australia) P/L against decision of Bissett C of 3 February 2016 [[2016] FWC 669] Re: Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia
