Australian Sugar Milling Association, Queensland Union of Employers v The Electrical Trades Union of Employees of Australia, Queensland Branch [1993] QIRC 107 (1993) 142 QGIG 554

554 QUEENS LAN D GOVE RNMENT IND USTRIAL GAZETTE [30 Apri l, 1993 ##l/################/####1##########1/###################### QUEENSLAND INDUSTRIAL RELA T IONS COMMISSION Industrial R ela!lons A CI I 990 s. 10. 12 - application for variatio n Australian Sugar Milling Association, Queensland U nion of Employers (No. 8468 of /990) AN D The Electrical Trade s Union of Employees of Australia, Queensland Branch (No. 8 86 of 1991) AND The A malgamated Society of Carpenters. Joiners, Bricklayers and Plasterers of Australasia. Union of Employees, Queensland (No. B 209 of / 991) And Oth~rs SUGAR IN DUS TR Y AWA RD - STA TE ENGIN EE RING A WARD - STATE BU ILD ING TR'-\ DES AWA RD - STATE COMMISSIONERS EDWARDS . BOUGOURE. NUTTER 19 April 1993 Structural Efficiency - Award Restructuri ng - Tradespersons --- Jo ining of Matters with Application 8643 of 1992 - .loinder Refused - Union Membersh ip -- Evidence Improved Efliciency - Inter- Related Duties - Fl~xibil ily - Multi-Skilling - Modem ized Award - Arbitrated Matter - ACTU Determination on Uni on Membership - App lication Granted as Amcndod - Parties Directed to Co nfer Forthwith in relatio n lo the Transfer of such Tenns and Conditions conta ined in the Engineering Award -- Staie and the Building Trades Award - Stale wh ich may be relevant 10 Sugar M i ll Emp loyees. DECISION The Application by the Australian Sug ar Mi lli ng Ass,,ci ation, Que ens land, Union of Em ployet-s {A SMA) se.,ks to insert new Appendices in the Sugar lndusu·y Award --- Stale in rcspecl to positions in the Sugar Industry which were rm:vio usly co vered by Schedules in the Engineering Award - State and the Building Trades Awa,·d - Stale. The current position is that the majo rity of employees in Sugar Mills are covered by th e Sugar M ill Workers Section of the Sugar Industry Aw ard - Stale. However, there is also a large number of trnd«spersons emp loy ed in and around Sugar :vl ills and s u~h tradespersons are currently covered by the tr aditional trades awards ahovementioncd. The lradespersons in quest ion. who ii is prnpo~..:d 10 now incorporate under the .:overage of the Sugar Industry Award •- Stale, are an int egra l part of the wMkforce of Sugar Mills and work in close a.ssociation with other employees of Su gar Mills who are already co vered by the Sugar Industry Award - Stale . Prior lo this mailer coming on for hearing an app lication was made by T he Australian Workers' U nion of Employees. Queenslantl. (A WU) for a jo inder of this application with appl icat i,,n No B634 of 1992 tiled by the AWU pursuant to section 4.25A of the /nJusmal Rela11 ons A ci 1990. Th is was rej ected by the Commission on IR December 1992 with both nrnltcrs al that l ime adjo umcd I<> a date 10 be fixed. In addition the A WU so ught and were grant ed an adjournment ,,n 19 Febntary 1993 on the ha.sis that the ACTU wou ld be making a det ennin ation on un ion membership rights and th:1t wch dct,nnination could affect their a11i 1ttde in re~pec1 lo lhe cla im . The :1ppl ic a1 ion proceeded o n 26 t\·larch 1993. The emp l() yer's app lication was strenuously opposed IJy the i\ Wl ; and th e Federated Engine Driwrs ' and Fireme ns' Association of Australas ia Qu~em land Branch (FE DFA). which Unions presemly hold joint preference under the relevant section of the Sugar Industry Award - Stale. Conversely. the employer's application is supported by TI,e Metals and Engineering Workers' Industrial Union of Emp loyees. Queensland (MEWU). TI1e Electrical Trades Union of Employees of Australia, Queensland Branch (ETU) and The Amalgamated Society of Carpenters, Joiners, Bricklayers and Plasterers of Australasia, Union of Em ployees, Queensland ( ASC & J), which Unions presentl y have preference in the "Trades Awards" in relation to the tradcspersons whom it is proposed will, in future. be covered by the Sugar Industry Award - State. h is nol proposed lo change any existing preferen ce arrangements a11d the pro posed variation merely reflects existing pr(lvisions of the Engineering Award - Stale and the Building Trades Award - S tale. The practica l effect of the proposal is merely t o bring under one Award e mp loyees who currently work in close association in the one industry and whos e duties are int er-relat ed . In our view this is a cle ar case under the restntc turing process whereby all such employees should be covered by the one indu stry Award. The applicant submi tted that the granting of th e app lication would be the catalyst lo provide the. opportuni ty to deve lop common t.mns and conditions, more flexib le jobs , rewarding c areer paths. improved train ing opportunities. el im inate imped iments to mulli- skilling. provide year round wage rates and assist in breaking dowo future demarcations. This. they said, would lead 10 improved efficiency in the workplace . It was also put to the Commiss ion that a su nset cla use be in clu ded in any vari ati on allowing the parti es six (6) months lo negot iate the 1em1s. allowances an d condit ions to be incl uded in the new 111odi.:n1iz ed aw ard . We consider th e application to be free of any difficulty or complications, however, i,s mentioned above, the application is strenuously opposed by two Unions. Having heard all the relevant suhmissions, it is fair to say that, in our opinion, the opposition is in r~ality ba.sed on the desire of th e two opposing Un ions not to have !he three Unions supporting the application , with in the Sugar Industry Award - Stale al this lime. Whilst ii was subm itted by Mr Low (A WU) that there ma y be some p oss ibility that the MEWU would enrol persons wit hin the A WU 's list of cal lings, we consider that lo be improbahle fro m a practical viewpo int. Restnicturing <Jf lhe Sugar Industry Award - State has been progressing very slow ly. It seems 1ha1 lhe AWU and FEDFA desire 10 cont inue the r~s1nic1uring process without input from the other Unions invo lved in this app lication and 1ha1 after th e Award has been restniclured in respect of emplo yees presently covered by ii consideration will then be given 10 incorporation of tradespersons and their Unions inhl the rcs1nic1ured Awa rd. We co nsider such a rn'"\!SS to he quil t: inappropriati;!. Jn our view an y future discussions ah ou1 rcs tnu.:turing must inc_iud c consideration of all the emp loyees who should ullim ately be covered by the o ne industry Award . During the restn1cll1ring process the view of tradespersons and their Unions who , it is envisaged, will be covered IJy the restnictured Award mu st be given due consideration. If the Award is restniclured in the ir absence then many mailers will have to be re-negotiated al a later time. resulting in undue d day hdore the Awa rd is finally restructured. We were infonned 1ha1 the ACTU ha.s de lcm,ined 1ha1 the A WU should have principal U ni,>n status in the Sugar Industry and that the FEOl'A and 1\IIEW lJ shou ld have ~ignifican l Union status. We were also infom1ed lhal subject 1,1 co nlirina 1i o 11 of numbers, ll1e ETU may also haw sig nifica nt Union status. As the "Pr in cipa l Un ion", but also because we were informed i1 has s ome 66% of lolal Union rnemhership in Sugar Mills, the AWU is clearly entitled to receive signifi,,ant considerat ion in the restructuring process, however. as the "Principa l Union" ii also has an obligation l<l act ively encourage and oversee a proper and eO.ci ent restructuring process without delay taking into .:onsidcration lhe views of all employees. Mate.rial was also placed before us both in ev idence and submissions by the l lnions opposi ng th e app lication 10 the effect that the crnpl oy menl and career paths of emp l<J yees in th e process area may be jeopardised by the use of trad es persons outside of their tradit ion al areas of emp loyment. It wa., subm itted that lrades persons have access l<J add i1i,,nal training wh ich will enhance their promot iona l prospects whilst appropri;rle training is not yet available lo emplovees in the proc es s area. II is desirable t hat multi- sk i Iling occur, h,,wever. ii is also des irable d uring the lransilional period that all emp loyees have a reasonably e qua l opportunit y to ga in fu11her sk ills "'' for as is practicable. ii may well be 1ha1 in time some 1radcspersons wi ll. through add itional train ing and mult i- sk illing. intrude into are:is of emplo y men t outs ide of their current tradit iona l areas ,, r c111 p loymer11 . Howe ve r. process workers sh ould 30 April, 1993] QUEENS LAN D GOVE RNM ENT INDUSTRI AL GAZ ETTE 555 al so be afforded, wher.: practicable. an opportunity lo undergo add itional training to enable th em t o pursue an appropna1e. career_ path. Reference was made during the _heari ng to the destrabilny of safeguarding the in le rests of employees •~1 the process area and . Ill o ~r view there is some merit in the su1Jm1ss1ons and cvrden ce Ill 1h 1s regard . '!here is a lack of submissions before us as to any appr~priate Award provision to effect some protection for employees 111 the process area. We are. also concerned that any protec11w !1'~asure sho uld not unduly inhib it flexibility and the use of mult1-sk1ll,ng_m the workp lace. In our view this is a mailer for _further d1scuss1_on between all Unions and the employers s m ce th ,s 1s an issue wh ich has to be confront ed and, in our view. it can be more appropna1ely dealt with in the long tenn if al l em ployees are covered by th e ~ne Award. Furthem1orc, for the immediate future, we would caullon employers to ensure that prnccss section. employees are afforded a reasonable opportunity to rncrea.~e 1he1r skrlls and pursue an ap propriate career path . . In s.(mplc : cm,s we w_'.1uld ex~ecl all_ emp loyees to gel a "fair deal and tf any pa11_,~ ular sed1 on of employees is shown to b~. unfairly treated then this Corn1111ss 1on rs likely to endeavour to rec ld y the s 11ua1r o11. As an allemative to the granting of this app licMion, Mr_ L ow submille d that the parties be directed to c_onfer in a _sim ilar fashion to what occurred in 1992 in relation to certam a~p lt cat wns 11wolvmg the Field Sector of the Indust ry. In o ur view lhe s1 tuat1ons are distinguishable. In t he case of the Fid d Sector. onl y t)1e rele va nt employ e rs and one Uni~n ,were . involve d a!,d_ all ~a_rt,es sce me.d r,:ceptive to the Comm,ssron s ~c11on.. In the rnstant ,ns e, the mailer is overdue for attention. there 1s obv"'us conll11:1 between _the l.J n, on parties and , in our view, 10 adopt the alternate s_uggest1on w~U. ld involve considerable further delay and would ult1m,11ely be unhkdy 10 succeed. This is a case where the parties hnv_e already , had an~ple opp ortunity to negotiate but n_c~otia1ions have ellec11ve ly la rled . fhe employer's applicat ion was ongmally fi led on 29 Nowmb_e r 1990 and seems to have been he ld in abeyan.~c whilst other issues . were progressed and wi_1h the_ concurrenc-: of the Unions now opp.os_m~ rt. In our view 1hc issue 1s overdue tor dl!term111at1on and We; sci; no good purpose in furt~er delaying the issue . We_ ~(l 1101 (avou~ the ahema1i ve proposal ol Mr Low m th~ particular ctrcumslances ol 1h 1s case. Having conside red all of the submissio1_1s and malcri al before us. even though we have not spec ifically menll oned them all herem, we ar.: finn ty' of the view that this appli_ca1i~n. as amended. shou ld he granted and the variat ions made o pcra11 vc lrnrn 19 Apnl 1993. We direct that t he panies confer forthwith in relation to the transfer 10 the Sugar Industry Award - State of such t enm and con ditions contained in 1h~ Eng inee ri ng Award -· Slat~ and th e Building Trades Award - Stale wh ich may be relevant 10 Sugar ~1 1II emp loyees. The Co mmis si on orders accord ing iy. 1-: . L. EDWAROS. Comm iss ion ~r. R.W . BOUGOURE. Co mm is sioner. B . .I. NUTTER . Commis~iMer. Appearances: - Mr S.H. Nanc.,., and Mr r. Warren for the Austral ian Su gar Milling Assoc iat ion. Queensland, Union of Emplo ye rs . (ASMA) Mr B. Laub~ for CS R Limited . Ms K. [ngles and Mr R. Vcllme yer for The Amalgamatcd Meta l Workers' Union of Emp lo yees Queensland. {now MEWU) Mr A. Ashman for The Electri.:al T r.,dcs Union of Emp lo yees (lf Ausrra lia. Qucen sln nd Branch. (ETlJ) Mr G. Howcrotl and Mr M. Ravbar for The Ama lgamated ~ocie.ty. of Carpenters. Joiners, Bricklayers and Plaslae rs of Aus1 rala, 1a , lHHOll of Emp loyees. Queens land . {ASC & J) Mr G. Low for llre Australian Workers' Union of Em ployees. Queen s land . (A WlJ) Mr J. Coogan for the . Federated Engine Drivers' an_d. Firen~:ns' Association of Australas ia Queensland Branch. llni<ln ol Emplo)ces. ( FEDFA) Da te of Operation: 19 April 1993 Decision - New Appendices Sugar - Engineering & Building. Rel eased: 19 April I 993 ######################################################### -- 1 of 1 --