De Marco Developments Pty Ltd v The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy, Industrial Union of Employees, Queensland & Anor; De Marco Developments Pty Ltd t/a Compass Tiling Certified Agreement [2004] QIRC 80 (2004) 176 QGIG 31

14 May, 2004 QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE 31 ########################################################################################################################### QUEENSLAND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION Industrial Relations Act 1999 – ss. 172 and 173 – application for termination of agreement De Marco Developments Pty Ltd AND The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy, Industrial Union of Employees, Queensland and Another (No. CAX5 of 2004) DE MARCO DEVELOPMENTS PTY LTD T/A COMPASS TILING CERTIFIED AGREEMENT (No. CA393 of 2001) DEPUTY PRESIDENT BLOOMFIELD 5 May 2004 Application for termination of agreement – Agreement expired – Application under s. 173 – Not in public interest to terminate agreement – Application dismissed. REPORT ON DECISION (as edited) In giving his decision from the Bench on 28 April 2004, Deputy President Bloomfield stated: “After considering the arguments that have been raised in relation to s. 173 I simply record that I am not satisfied that the public interest test has been met such that I should proceed to cancel the agreement. The provisions of section 173 are fairly onerous in that the Commission is required to terminate an agreement if and only if it is satisfied that the public interest test, as it is commonly described, has been satisfied. I must indicate that whilst I have some sympathy for Mr De Marco’s plight, in that he says he is no longer in the “construction industry” as he describes it, I nonetheless note it is also his concession that he does not intend to reduce any of the existing conditions of employees. If that is the case one would wonder what benefit is to be obtained, in any event, if the agreement is cancelled. Now, I should point out to you, Mr De Marco, that that is not the end of your options. The Industrial Relations Act 1999 indicates that agreements can be made at any time between either an employer and its employees or an employer and an union. If you are in a different business now than you were at the time that you entered into the agreement with the two unions that are represented here today, and you do not intend to be in what you described as the “construction industry”, being the large end of town, it might be that the union parties are prepared to negotiate a new agreement with you which recognises the nature of your current business operation. If that does not succeed, it might be that you can negotiate an agreement with your employees. So, if there are provisions which you find are inhibiting you in the current agreement there are solutions other than applying to cancel the agreement.”. Dated 5 May 2004. By the Commission, [L.S.] G.D. SAVILL, Acting Industrial Registrar. Released: 5 May 2004 Appearances: Mr P. De Marco of De Marco Developments Pty Ltd, the applicant. Ms M. Austin of The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy, Industrial Union of Employees, Queensland. Mr R. Moxham of the Australian Building Construction Employees and Builders’ Labourers’ Federation (Queensland Branch) Union of Employees. -- 1 of 1 --