Transport
Industry - Motor Bus Drivers and Conductors (State) Award
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Application by Transport
Workers' Union of New South Wales, Industrial Organisation of Employees.
(No. IRC 1235 of 2006)
Before The Honourable
Justice Wright, President
|
23 March 2006
|
VARIATION
1. Insert in
numerical order in clause 1, Arrangement of the award published 9 September 2005
(353 I.G. 760) the following new clause number and subject matter.
45. Secure
Employment
2. Insert after
clause 44, Area Incidence and Duration the following new clause.
45. Secure Employment
(a) Objective of
this Clause
The objective of this clause is for the employer to
take all reasonable steps to provide its employees with secure employment by
maximising the number of permanent positions in the employer’s workforce, in
particular by ensuring that casual employees have an opportunity to elect to
become full-time or part-time employees.
(b) Casual
Conversion
(i) A casual
employee engaged by a particular employer on a regular and systematic basis for
a sequence of periods of employment under this Award during a calendar period
of six months shall thereafter have the right to elect to have his or her
ongoing contract of employment converted to permanent full-time employment or
part-time employment if the employment is to continue beyond the conversion
process prescribed by this subclause.
(ii) Every
employer of such a casual employee shall give the employee notice in writing of
the provisions of this sub-clause within four weeks of the employee having
attained such period of six months. However, the employee retains his or her
right of election under this subclause if the employer fails to comply with
this notice requirement.
(iii) Any casual
employee who has a right to elect under paragraph (b)(i), upon receiving notice
under paragraph (b)(ii) or after the expiry of the time for giving such notice,
may give four weeks’ notice in writing to the employer that he or she seeks to
elect to convert his or her ongoing contract of employment to full-time or
part-time employment, and within four weeks of receiving such notice from the
employee, the employer shall consent to or refuse the election, but shall not
unreasonably so refuse. Where an employer refuses an election to convert, the
reasons for doing so shall be fully stated and discussed with the employee
concerned, and a genuine attempt shall be made to reach agreement. Any dispute
about a refusal of an election to convert an ongoing contract of employment
shall be dealt with as far as practicable and with expedition through the
disputes settlement procedure.
(iv) Any casual
employee who does not, within four weeks of receiving written notice from the
employer, elect to convert his or her ongoing contract of employment to
full-time employment or part-time employment will be deemed to have elected
against any such conversion.
(v) Once a casual
employee has elected to become and been converted to a full-time employee or a
part-time employee, the employee may only revert to casual employment by
written agreement with the employer.
(vi) If a casual
employee has elected to have his or her contract of employment converted to
full-time or part-time employment in accordance with paragraph (b)(iii), the
employer and employee shall, in accordance with this paragraph, and subject to
paragraph (b)(iii), discuss and agree upon:
(1) whether the
employee will convert to full-time or part-time employment; and
(2) if it is
agreed that the employee will become a part-time employee, the number of hours
and the pattern of hours that will be worked either consistent with the
part-time employment provisions of this award (subject to sub-clause (vii)) or
pursuant to a part time work agreement
made under Chapter 2, Part 5 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW):
Provided that an employee who has worked on a full-time
basis throughout the period of casual employment has the right to elect to
convert his or her contract of employment to full-time employment and an
employee who has worked on a part-time basis during the period of casual
employment has the right to elect to convert his or her contract of employment
to part-time employment, on the basis of the same number of hours and times of
work as previously worked, unless other arrangements are agreed between the
employer and the employee.
(vii) Any agreement
with respect to conversion to part-time employment under the part-time
provisions of this award must be in accordance with clause 7, Part-Time
Employees, except that:
(1) in the case of
conversion of a casual employee who has predominantly been performing school
run work, his or her hours of work as a part-time employee may be averaged over
52 weeks if it is envisaged that the employee will continue to perform
predominantly school run work and provided that a minimum of three hours is
worked on each rostered working day during school term;
(2) sub-clause
(iii) (d) of Clause 8, Hours of Employment, shall not be applicable;
(3) any hours
worked in addition to the base number of agreed hours shall:
be worked only by mutual agreement between the employer
and the employee, and there shall be no circumstances in which the employer can
require the employee to work additional hours.
shall, except in the case of special hirings (to which
clause 15 applies), be paid at the ordinary-time rate of this award for up to
10 hours per day or 38 hours per week for all work performed (including base
hours), and thereafter shall be paid at overtime penalty rates.
be taken into account in the calculation of pro-rata
leave entitlements (except where paid at overtime penalty rates).
(viii) Following an
agreement being reached pursuant to paragraph (vi), the employee shall convert
to full-time or part-time employment. If there is any dispute about the
arrangements to apply to an employee converting from casual employment to full-time
or part-time employment, it shall be dealt with as far as practicable and with
expedition through the disputes settlement procedure.
(ix) An employee
must not be engaged and re-engaged, dismissed or replaced in order to avoid any
obligation under this subclause.
(e) Occupational
Health and Safety
(i) For the
purposes of this subclause, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) A "labour
hire business" is a business (whether an organisation, business
enterprise, company, partnership, co-operative, sole trader, family trust or
unit trust, corporation and/or person) which has as its business function, or
one of its business functions, to supply staff employed or engaged by it to
another employer for the purpose of such staff performing work or services for
that other employer.
(2) A
"contract business" is a business (whether an organisation, business
enterprise, company, partnership, co-operative, sole trader, family trust or
unit trust, corporation and/or person) which is contracted by another employer
to provide a specified service or services or to produce a specific outcome or
result for that other employer which might otherwise have been carried out by
that other employer’s own employees.
(ii) Any employer
which engages a labour hire business and/or a contract business to perform work
wholly or partially on the employer’s premises shall do the following (either
directly, or through the agency of the labour hire or contract business):
(1) consult with
employees of the labour hire business and/or contract business regarding the workplace occupational health
and safety consultative arrangements;
(2) provide
employees of the labour hire business and/or contract business with appropriate
occupational health and safety induction training including the appropriate
training required for such employees to perform their jobs safely;
(3) provide
employees of the labour hire business and/or contract business with appropriate
personal protective equipment and/or clothing and all safe work method statements
that they would otherwise supply to their own employees; and
(4) ensure
employees of the labour hire business and/or contract business are made aware
of any risks identified in the workplace and the procedures to control those
risks.
(iii) Nothing in
this subclause (c) is intended to affect or detract from any obligation or
responsibility upon a labour hire business arising under the Occupational
Health and Safety Act 2000 or the Workplace Injury Management and
Workers Compensation Act 1998.
(d) Disputes
Regarding the Application of this Clause
Where a dispute arises as to the application or
implementation of this clause, the matter shall be dealt with pursuant to the
disputes settlement procedure of this award.
(e) This clause
has no application in respect of organisations which are properly registered as
Group Training Organisations under the Apprenticeship and Traineeship Act
2001 (or equivalent interstate legislation) and are deemed by the relevant
State Training Authority to comply with the national standards for Group
Training Organisations established by the ANTA Ministerial Council.
3. This
variation shall take effect from 23rd March 2006.
F.
L. WRIGHT J , President
____________________
Printed by
the authority of the Industrial Registrar.