AG2001/7208, Transcript of Proceedings [2001] AIRCTrans 3396 (5 December 2001)

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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

O/N 7979

AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL

RELATIONS COMMISSION

DEPUTY PRESIDENT LEARY

AG2001/7208

APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION
OF AGREEMENT

Application under section 170LJ of the Act
by Aurora Energy, the AMWU, the ETU, the ASU,
APESMA and the AWU for certification of the
aurora Energy Redundancy Agreement 2001

HOBART

12.04 PM, WEDNESDAY, 21 NOVEMBER 2001

PN1

MR R. BRIMFIELD: I appear for Aurora Energy, if the Commission pleases.

PN2

THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you. Could I just advise that we have received faxes from the AMWU, the ETU, the ASU, APESMA and the AWU advising of their non attendance but they agree to the certification in their absence. Did you want to speak to the agreement?

PN3

MR BRIMFIELD: Just indeed very quickly a couple of words, if I could, Deputy President. The agreement with the parties was reached at the end of August. The agreement was made available to all employees from 10 September. All employees were given the opportunity to attend presentations to have the agreement explained to them. The agreement was also made available through our intranet which all employees have access to. A ballot was conducted from 8 October through to 23 October, the result of that ballot was that 472 ballots were returned and of those 415 employees voted in favour and 53 voted against.

PN4

The agreement passes the - in our view, passes the no disadvantage test in that employees entitlements on redundancy have actually increased under the proposed agreement. Our view is that the certification of the agreement is not contrary to the public interest and the agreement has a procedure for settling grievances and disputes and finally, the agreement has a - we have specified a nominal expiry date of three years from the date of signing, being 1 November of 2001, so we request that the Commission certifies the agreement accordingly. They are the only comments I wish to make, if the Commission pleases.

PN5

THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you. I have been through the agreement and I have no queries about any of its content so accordingly pursuant to section 170LJ of the Workplace Relations Act the agreement to be known as the Aurora Energy Redundancy Agreement 2001 will be certified. Parties to the agreement are Aurora, its employees, APESMA, the ASU, the AWU, the AMWU and the CEPU. All of the parties have provided the required statutory declarations and accordingly I am satisfied have met the requirements of the Act.

PN6

The agreement will be certified, an order will come into effect rom today's date and remain in force until 31 October 2003 but I note the agreement actually took effect from the date of signing which was 1 November 2001. That agreement is hereby certified.

ADJOURNED INDEFINITELY [2.08pm]