C2002/4618, Transcript of Proceedings [2002] AIRCTrans 3868 (1 October 2002)

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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS


AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL

RELATIONS COMMISSION

SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT LACY

C2002/4618

TOLL EXPRESS

and

TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Notification pursuant to section 99 of the Act
of an industrial dispute re alleged wildcat
strike action at the Altona North depot

MELBOURNE

3.07 PM, MONDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2002

PN1

MR P. RYAN: I seek leave to appear as an agent to Toll Express; with me is MR D. NASH, State Manager and MR J. COUSINS, State Operations Manager.

PN2

MR C. FENNELL: I appear on behalf of the Transport Workers' Union and appearing with me is MR J. ROBB from the Altona North Depot.

PN3

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Mr Ryan, what is it all about? Do you want to tell me what it is about?

PN4

MR RYAN: Yes, your Honour. As best I can given the information that is available. There are some points that I think need to put on the record and then I would seek the Commission's assistance in perhaps going into conference. Toll Express have an enterprise agreement with their employees. It was executed on 16 October 2000 and certified on 31 October 2000 and print number T2649 is the identifying factor.

PN5

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: 2649 you said?

PN6

MR RYAN: Yes, your Honour. And it was certified by Commissioner Holmes, as I said, on 31 October 2000. That agreement is still within its notional expiry date which is 31 August 2003. Last Friday morning the Toll Express employees walked off the job. There was no advice to management. When management pursued the issues they were told by one of the delegates, "We have walked off the job because of the attitude of management." The certified agreement contains a dispute settlement clause which has been completely ignored. This industrial action is totally unprotected and in today's environment is completely reprehensible and has caused substantial loss to the company. If there are issues of concern then the company needs to be advised and would seek to process those.

PN7

At this stage, we would seek a strong recommendation from the Commission that such conduct not occur into the future. The management representatives are present here today and we want to develop some ground rules on the operations of Toll Express at Altona and Mount Waverley, which is the other satellite depot, your Honour.

PN8

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: It is just the one depot that it occurred at?

PN9

MR RYAN: No, at both depots employees walked off the job, both day shift and afternoon shift.

PN10

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: At Altona and?

PN11

MR RYAN: Mount Waverley.

PN12

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes. So have they returned to work now?

PN13

MR RYAN: They advised when pursued by management on Friday that they were walking off the job until midnight Sunday. Work, as I understand it, resumed as normal at shift commencement time this morning.

PN14

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: And were there shifts missed over the weekend, Saturday and Sunday?

PN15

MR RYAN: Yes, your Honour. This notification was made pursuant to section 99 of the Act but could equally be made under section 170LW dealing with matters arising under a certified agreement and there are some issues. Our aim today is to at least get issues on the table. Management have some issues that it believes must be worked through and we would certainly appreciate the issues that caused this wildcat walkout to take place to be put on the table so we can process them. That is probably all I would say at this stage, your Honour.

PN16

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes. Thank you, Mr Ryan. Mr Fennell, I should have asked you, do you have any objection to Mr Ryan being granted leave to appear as an agent?

PN17

MR FENNELL: No, your Honour.

PN18

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: No. Very well, thank you. Leave is granted, Mr Ryan. I am sorry. Yes, Mr Fennell.

PN19

MR FENNELL: Yes, your Honour. I am advised by the delegates' official, who is actually involved in the yards is away today, but we are happy to just put a few words up on transcript and then actually go into conference and look at all these issues that are raised. I am advised that the reason for events of Friday were actually frustration that they believe that the discussions regarding consultation with management are really mere lip service and true consultation. I will just put a few brief things on to the transcript, your Honour. Things like job advertising. There has been some commitments in the past that all jobs would be just put on the notice board and advertised for everybody to apply if they so wish, but the current management is saying that it is TWU jobs that will be advertised. The Mount - - -

PN20

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Sorry, what - where did the - is there something in the agreement about advertising jobs, it there, or was that a separate - - -

PN21

MR FENNELL: No, your Honour. It is just a separate matter. Toll, generally, at other divisions have a policy of all internal jobs should be put on to notice boards and that at the Express site - actually this issue was raised I believe in December last year and they got some commitments out of management at that time that they would - that all jobs would be advertised. That doesn't mean that the company have to employ actually anybody, but just give people the opportunity to apply for the job. The issue regarding Mount Waverley from our membership - there is an issue about harassment of the trailer driver out there.

PN22

Our membership believe that he is being pursued by the supervisor at Mount Waverley, and there is also the issue of actually the company actually using outside hire before actually using their own permanent employees and permanent owner drivers. Actually starting outside hire before using their own. Other matters - some job security, use of the consultative committee, training and there is a few issues around the radio room, but that is all I think we need to put on transcript at this point your Honour.

PN23

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: What do you say to the proposition put by Mr Ryan that they did not resort to the dispute settling procedures?

PN24

MR FENNELL: Information I have received, your Honour, is that no, there was no discussions that took place on Friday.

PN25

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Was there any discussions before that?

PN26

MR FENNELL: Over individual issues leading up to Friday, and they felt that the company weren't consulting in a proper way about the matters.

PN27

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: So the union delegates had raised with management on an individual issue basis that they believed they were not getting an adequate consultative response, is that what you are saying?

PN28

MR FENNELL: That is correct.

PN29

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes, did you want to say anything else?

PN30

MR FENNELL: No, that is all I want to say, at this time, your Honour.

PN31

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Mr Ryan, do you want to say anything on response, on the record?

PN32

MR RYAN: Simply that the disputes procedure very clearly states that the following procedure will apply and the workshop will continue as normal whilst the dispute is resolved. Issues - I understand there was a meeting last week at which the General Manager attended and that broke up with general agreement on a direction forward and then all of a sudden within a week we have people walking off the job. The enterprise agreement clearly sets out a procedure and process to be followed and we would expect that to be honoured at all times.

PN33

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Sorry, what time did you say they walked off the job?

PN34

MR RYAN: Sorry?

PN35

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: What time did they walk off the job?

PN36

MR RYAN: 7.30 am. And we believe that it had been discussed with the pm shift the night before on Thursday evening. In terms of the particular issues raised by Mr Fennell he talks about job security. Well, people walking off the job and the inability to advise clients and approximately $300,000 in revenue goes to the competitors of Toll Express, that in the long term doesn't engender a sense of job security. That is entirely as a result of their own actions. Nothing the company has done. There is big difference between consultation and people getting the answers that they want when, at the end of the day, management has a duty and a responsibility to manage the business as it sees fit within certain parameters and perhaps we can explore some of that in conference if your Honour is minded.

PN37

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: All right. Did you have anything else for the record at this stage, Mr Fennell?

PN38

MR RYAN: Yes, Commissioner. Yes, really just a quick answer to what Mr Ryan was talking about. The issue re job security is the reason it was raised and a decision taken by the membership on Friday wasn't taken lightly but they believe if the company do listen to what they have got to say it will improve job security and the business prospects for everybody if what they have got to say is taken on board. Having thrown in their faces, "It is our business and we will manage the business the way we see fit" makes it a bit hard to have a consultative - a proper consultative process in a yard.

PN39

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: All right. Look I think what I will do is adjourn into conference and see if this matter can be progressed to some sort of positive outcome or resolution. Does anybody anticipate that the transcript recording would be required after the conference today?

PN40

MR RYAN: No, I don't think so.

PN41

MR FENNELL: No, your Honour.

PN42

THE SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT: No. Very well. In those circumstances I will release the Court Reporting Service and thank them for their services and adjourn into conference.

NO FURTHER PROCEEDINGS RECORDED