BLUE COLLAR RECRUITMENT - NUW (NSW) CONSENT AWARD 2005
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Application by National
Union of Workers, New South Wales Branch, industrial organisation of employees.
(No. IRC 2858 of 2005)
|
Before The Honourable
Justice Backman
|
17 June 2005
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AWARD
1. Arrangement
Clause No. Subject Matter
1. Arrangement
2. Definitions
3. Parties
4. Terms and
Conditions of Employment
5. Provision
of Information
6. Area, Incidence
and Duration
7. Anti-Discrimination
8. Superannuation
9. No Extra
Claims
10. Settlement
of Disputes
11. Union
Deductions
2. Definitions
2.1 In this
Consent Award:
(1) "Award"
means - an award made by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission or an
award made by the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales (within
the scope of which the Union may cover employees) that applies to a workplace
or site of a Client at which an Employee is working which would otherwise apply
if the Employee was an employee of that Client;
(2) "Client"
means - any corporation which has entered into a contract with the Company for
the supply of the Company’s labour;
(3) "Commission"
means - the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales;
(4) "Company"
means- BLUE COLLAR RECRUITMENT Level 1, 181 Church Street Parramatta NSW 2150;
(5) "Consent
Award" means - this award;
(6) "Employee(s)"
means - an employee of the Company who is a member of the Union or eligible to
be a member of the Union and engaged to perform work at the Client’s workplace
or site;
(7) "Enterprise
Agreement" means - an enterprise agreement made under the Industrial
Relations Act 1996 (NSW) or a certified agreement or an Australian
Workplace Agreement made under the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth);
(8) "Terms
and Conditions of Employment" means - the terms and conditions of
employment applicable to the Employees employed at the Client’s workplace or
site including the applicable Award and Enterprise Agreement; and
(9) "Union"
means - the National Union of Workers’, New South Wales Branch, 3-5 Bridge
Street, Granville, New South Wales, 2142.
3. Parties
The parties to this Consent Award are the Company and the
Union.
4. Terms and
Conditions of Employment
The Employees, whilst working at a Client’s workplace or
site, will be paid the Terms and Conditions of Employment. To avoid uncertainty, this means that Employees
shall receive no less than the applicable Award and/or Enterprise Agreement
applying at the Client’s workplace.
5. Provision of
Information
Upon request from the Company, the Union undertakes to use
its best endeavours to provide the following information to the Company:
5.1 whether the
Client’s workplace or site employs Union members; and
5.2 the Terms and
Conditions of Employment applicable to the Client’s workplace or site.
6. Area, Incidence
and Duration
6.1 This Consent
Award is binding on the Company, the Union and the Employees.
6.2 This Consent
Award shall operate from 17 June 2005 and remain in force for a period of two
years.
6.3 This Consent
Award applies to work performed within the State of New South Wales at sites
where the Union has members or coverage pursuant to its registered rules. For the purposes of Clause 5, an indicative
but non-exhaustive list of Awards is contained in Appendix "A" to
this Consent Award.
7.
Anti-Discrimination
7.1 It is the
intention of the parties to this Consent Award to seek to achieve the object in
section 3(f) of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW) to prevent and
eliminate discrimination in the workplace. This includes discrimination on the
grounds of race, sex, marital status, disability, homosexuality, transgender
identity, age and responsibilities as a carer.
7.2 It follows
that in fulfilling their obligations under the dispute resolution procedure set
out in this Agreement, the parties have obligations to take all reasonable
steps to ensure that the operation of the provisions of this agreement are not
directly or indirectly discriminatory in their effects. It will be consistent
with the fulfilment of these obligations for the parties to make application to
vary any provision of the Agreement which, by its terms or operation, has a
direct or indirect discriminatory effect.
7.3 Under the Anti-Discrimination
Act 1977 (NSW), it is unlawful to victimise an employee because the
employee has made or may make or has been involved in a complaint of unlawful
discrimination or harassment.
7.4 Nothing in
this clause is to be taken to affect:
(1) any conduct or
act which is specifically exempted from anti-discrimination legislation;
(2) offering or providing
junior rates of pay to persons under 21 years of age;
(3) any act or
practice of a body established to propagate religion which is exempted under
section 56(d) of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW); and
(4) a party to
this Consent Award from pursuing matters of unlawful discrimination in any
State or Federal jurisdiction.
7.5 This clause
does not create legal rights or obligations in addition to those imposed upon
the parties by the legislation referred to in this clause.
8. Superannuation
The Company will make superannuation contributions on behalf
of Employees into the Labour Union Co-operative Retirement Fund or any other
complying superannuation fund.
9. No Extra Claims
The parties to this Consent Award agree that they will make
no extra claims for the duration of this Consent Award.
10. Settlement of
Disputes
10.1 In the event of
a dispute or grievance arising between the parties, the parties shall endeavour
to resolve the dispute in accordance with the following procedure:
(a) any dispute
arising out of employment shall be referred by the shop steward or an
individual employee to the Company representative appointed for this purpose;
(b) failing
settlement at this level between the Company and the shop steward on the job,
the shop steward shall refer the dispute within 24 hours to the union organiser
who will take the matter up with the Company.
All efforts shall be made by the Company and the union
organiser to settle the matter but, failing settlement, the union organiser shall
refer the dispute to the union Secretary and the Company shall refer the
dispute to its employer association and the union Secretary shall take the
matter up with the employer association;
(c) during the
discussions the status quo shall remain and work shall proceed normally.
"Status quo" shall mean the situation existing immediately prior to
the dispute or the matter giving rise to the dispute; and
(d) at any time,
either party shall have the right to notify the dispute to Industrial Registrar
of the Commission.
11. Union Deductions
11.1 The Company
shall deduct Union membership fees (not including fines or levies) from the pay
of any Employee, provided that:
(a) the Employee
has authorised the Company to make such deductions in accordance with
sub-clause 12.2 herein;
(b) the Union
shall advise the Company of the amount to be deducted for each pay period
applying at the Company’s workplace and any changes to that amount; and
(c) deduction of
Union membership fees shall only occur in each pay period in which payment has
or is to be made to an Employee.
11.2 The Employee’s
authorisation shall be in writing and shall authorise the deduction of an
amount of Union fees (including any variation in that fee effected in
accordance with the Union’s rules) that the Union advises the Company to
deduct. Where the Employee passes any
such written authorisation to the Union, the Union shall not pass the written
authorisation on to the Company without first obtaining the Employee’s consent
to do so. Such consent may form part of
the written authorisation.
11.3 Monies so
deducted from Employees’ pay shall be remitted to the Union on a monthly basis,
together with all necessary information to enable the reconciliation and
crediting of subscriptions to Employees’ membership accounts, provided that
where the Company has elected to remit on a monthly basis, the Company shall be
entitled to retain up to 2.5 per cent of the monies deducted.
11.4 Where an
Employee has already authorised the deduction of Union membership fees in
writing from his or her pay prior to this clause taking effect, nothing in this
clause shall be read as requiring the Employee to make a fresh authorisation in
order for such deductions to commence or continue.
11.5 The Union shall
advise the Company of any change to the amount of membership fees made under
its rules, provided that this does not occur more than once in any calendar
year. Such advice shall be in the form
of a schedule of fees to be deducted weekly. The Union shall give the Company a minimum of two months’ notice
of any such change.
11.6 An Employee may
at any time revoke in writing an authorisation to the Company to make payroll
deductions of Union membership fees.
11.7 The company
shall advise all non-union employees that a Union Bargaining Fee of $7.00 per
week is payable to the union. The company shall also advise all new employees
prior to commencing work for the company that a Union Bargaining Fee of $7.00
per week is payable to the union. The company will provide to all new employees
an authority to deduct the Union Bargaining Fee from their wages before
commencement of employment.
11.8 Where an
Employee who is a member of the Union and who has authorised the Company to
make payroll deductions of Union membership fees resigns his or her membership
of the Union in accordance with the Rules of the Union, the Union shall inform
the Employee in writing of the need to revoke the authorisation to the Company
in order for payroll deductions of union membership fees to cease.
BACKMAN J.
____________________
Printed by
the authority of the Industrial Registrar.