AG2003/3238, Transcript of Proceedings [2003] AIRCTrans 1806 (16 May 2003)

AUSCRIPT PTY LTD
ABN 76 082 664 220

Level 4, 60-70 Elizabeth St SYDNEY NSW 2000
DX1344 Sydney Tel:[phone] Fax:[phone]

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL

RELATIONS COMMISSION

COMMISSIONER JONES

AG2003/3238

APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION
OF AGREEMENT

Application under section 170LK of the Act
by CJ Ord River Sugar Pty Limited for
certification of the CJ Ord River Sugar
Certified Agreement 2001

SYDNEY

9.40 AM, THURSDAY, 1 MAY 2003

Adjourned sine die

PN1

THE COMMISSIONER: May I have the appearances, please?

PN2

MR N. KEATS: Good morning, Commissioner, I seek as a solicitor to appear on behalf of both CJ Ord River Sugar Pty Limited and the employee representative, Scott Moon.

PN3

THE COMMISSIONER: Leave is granted, Mr Keats.

PN4

MR KEATS: Thank you, Commissioner. You have before you a section 170LK agreement, I rely upon the declarations of Mr Kinkade and of Mr Moon, both of which were declared on 9 April 2003. You will see that the agreement relates to the whole of the business, situated across from Western Australia, it covers 36 employees of which 29 validly voted for approval of the agreement. It provides an expiry date of 1 July of this year. It covers a constitutional corporation, being CJ Ord River Sugar Pty Limited.

PN5

It contains a grievance procedure in clause 12 and in my submission it passes the no disadvantage test. There are no matters covered by section 170LU which would cause this Commission not to certify the agreement. Unless there are any further questions from the Commission, those would be my submissions and I seek that the agreement be certified.

PN6

THE COMMISSIONER: The file was lost, wasn't it?

PN7

MR KEATS: No, there is a more lengthy history than that. Back in 2001 this agreement in this form came before Commissioner Larkin. It was knocked back on that occasion in that one of the procedural steps had not been met. An agreement was put up to the employees, that agreement was then varied by agreement and a new agreement was given to the employees but on that occasion a new written notice of intention to make an agreement was not given and the Commissioner held that that step was mandatory and therefore refused to certify the agreement.

PN8

There has then been a period, as you can see, of almost two years of negotiation between the employees and the employer as to the terms of the agreement and that is the agreement that comes before the Commission today.

PN9

THE COMMISSIONER: I see. Mr Keats, I will sign the certificate for the agreement to be known as the CJ Ord River Sugar Certified Agreement 2001 coming into force from today's date, 1 May 2003 to 1 July 2003. This file is now closed.

ADJOURNED INDEFINITELY [9.43am]