C2001/5343, Transcript of Proceedings [2001] AIRCTrans 2962 (1 November 2001)

AUSCRIPT PTY LTD
ABN 76 082 664 220

Level 4, 179 Queen St MELBOURNE Vic 3000
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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS


O/N 0802

AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL

RELATIONS COMMISSION

SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT WATSON

C2001/5343

AUSTRALIAN MUNICIPAL, ADMINISTRATIVE,
CLERICAL AND SERVICES UNION

and

TRAVELAND PTY LIMITED

Notification pursuant to section 99 of the Act
of a dispute re the failure of Traveland Pty Limited
to pay wages of employees and adhere to the normal
custom and practice in relation to payment of wages

MELBOURNE

10.40 AM, WEDNESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2001

THIS HEARING WAS CONDUCTED BY VIDEO CONFERENCE
IN MELBOURNE

PN1

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I will take appearances please in Melbourne first.

PN2

MR R. RANKIN: I appear on behalf of the Australian Services Union, together with MR T. McCANDLESS and MS A. FOGARTY.

PN3

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes, thank you, Mr Rankin. And in Sydney?

PN4

MS V. VENNING: I appear on behalf of Internova Travel Pty Limited, together with MS K. BYRNE on behalf of Internova Travel Pty Limited.

PN5

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Ms Venning. I have put the matter on by video conference. My office was contacted by the company, the respondent, indicating they thought the matters had been resolved, and accordingly - and that was very late yesterday, and I had arranged a video conference rather than require the company to travel from Sydney. Mr Rankin, what do you say the position is?

PN6

MR RANKIN: If it please the Commission, we don't believe the matter is resolved, although we have come some way to a resolution. But I would thank the Commission for putting on this - or dealing with the matter at such short notice, and also making available time today, in that hopefully we can resolve those issues that are still outstanding through this process.

PN7

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: And what do you say those issues are?

PN8

MR RANKIN: The issues are (a) that we are seeking to know from Traveland Internova what they have done to ensure that in future payment of wages will be done at the appropriate time, and (b) we seek an assurance from Traveland Internova that that, in fact, will be the case, (c) we would seek discussions about the effect of the proposed changes to pay cycles, and further, we would seek agreement to measures to mitigate any disadvantages that the change to the pay cycles may have to any individual employee.

PN9

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes, very well. And I take it there was some issue of some outstanding payments which have been rectified?

PN10

MR RANKIN: Yes, I understand that is the case.

PN11

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Very well. And you would wish to proceed by conference?

PN12

MR RANKIN: If we could, yes.

PN13

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes, very well. Ms Venning, what is the company's position?

PN14

MS VENNING: Commissioner, sorry, we are having a little bit of trouble hearing you.

PN15

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: That might be because the microphone is somewhat away. Yes, what is your position for the company?

PN16

MS VENNING: If it pleases the Commission, just to give some background with the circumstances that Traveland has been through over recent times. Traveland Pty Limited went into voluntary administration on 13 September 2001. The company was a fully subsidiary of the Air New Zealand/Ansett group. PriceWaterhouseCoopers were the initial administrators, and on 18 September Andersens were appointed as the administrators to facilitate a sale process of the company in its own right. The business was sold to Internova Travel Pty Limited, and that was the assets of the company, the name of the company and trademark, etcetera.

PN17

And the transfer of employment of employees of Traveland Pty Limited were transferred to Internova effective as of 23 September. During this time we met with the Australian Services Union during the administration period, and again after the change of ownership, including the managing director of Internova MCI, who at the time were the parent company, the original parent company. If I could point out that at the time, given the complexity of the situation that the business was going through, an undertaking was given to support the new business owners by the ASU. And obviously the fact that the business had been sold, there was great relief by both the unions and the employees of Traveland.

PN18

At both meetings we had actually agreed that to streamline communications moving forward, that the communication with the ASU and Traveland would occur through the New South Wales office, through Sally McManus and Lauren Hutchins. It was also understood that there were many operational issues that still required attention, and patience was certainly sought during the time of this transition. A CEO was appointed at the time of that initial transfer, however, there is no a new shareholder and ownership situation of the company.

PN19

Internova MCI are no longer shareholders in Internova Travel Pty Limited, so the original parent company has changed. However, Internova Travel Pty Limited is still the principal employer. As a result of the changes in the shareholder and Traveland's limited trading capacity, we are currently not trading in Victoria, nor are we trading with the RAC or the NRMA locations. Further arrangements for the banking facilities were required to facilitate the next payroll.

PN20

The banking facilities are still requiring further establishment, and the last payroll that was processed, the communication was provided to the employees on 11 October that that particular payroll, a delay would be experienced because the normal payroll facilities through the online facilities were not established, and we had to facilitate the payment of that process through the previous parent company, Internova MCI. They had agreed to do so in the interim until the new banking facilities were established. It was all Traveland employees, both fortnightly paid and monthly paid, were informed that the wages would be paid yesterday, 16 October, and that did occur.

PN21

There was also a request then by the shareholders that we move the fortnightly paid employees to monthly to assist with the streamlining and simplification of the process moving forward. And communication was sent to the employees in regards to that on 11 October from the new chief executive officer, as a result of the shareholder changes, the new chief executive officer. As soon as that letter was distributed the union was notified, Lauren Hutchins of the ASU in New South Wales division was contacted, and we had agreed that contact numbers would be established to handle any difficulties that would be experienced during this transition period. That was including a communication that was sent on 11 October.

PN22

And we agreed to monitor the situation and provide further assistance where practical. On Friday, 12 October, an employee forwarded to our national retail manager an ASU newsletter advising their members that we were in dispute. This newsletter also stated that the ASU had notified Traveland that we were in dispute. This wasn't the case. The newsletter was generated from Victoria with no reference to the New South Wales ASU branch, where the communication had already been established.

PN23

Discussions with Ross Rankin from the ASU in Victoria occurred, with an agreement to adjourn the matter after the ASU in Victoria had time to consider the mechanisms being put in place to alleviate any hardship for members re the payment of wages which occurred yesterday, and the transfer of costs to monthly payment. Internova Travel believes that the interim payments that have been recommended, the interim payments to be made on 9 November will assist the employees to transfer across as the next payment that they would receive would be on 15 November for three weeks, or one week in arrears and two weeks in advance. And that would assist with the transfer across to monthly.

PN24

We thank the Commission for their flexibility in enabling the hearing to be conducted by a video conferencing, due to the difficulties that we have been experiencing. However, we believe that under the extremely difficult circumstances that the company has been faced with, that we have not contravened the Traveland CMAT Award, nor the Australian Workplace Relations Act, and that we have put in mechanisms in place to minimise any difficulties for employees during this transition.

PN25

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes, very well. And you have no objection to adjourning into conference to further discuss these matters?

PN26

MS VENNING: No objection.

PN27

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes, very well. Unless there is anything else on the record, I will adjourn into conference..

PN28

MR RANKIN: No. We can deal with it in conference.

PN29

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes, very well. Thank you, I will adjourn into conference.

NO FURTHER PROCEEDINGS RECORDED