AG2003/2829, Transcript of Proceedings [2003] AIRCTrans 3251 (1 August 2003)

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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL

RELATIONS COMMISSION

COMMISSIONER BARTEL

AG2003/2829

APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION
OF AGREEMENT

Application under section 170LK of the Act
by BAE Systems Australia Limited for
certification of the BAE Systems Product
Support Group Certified Agreement (2003)

ADELAIDE

12.05 PM, THURSDAY, 17 JULY 2003

PN1

MS DE VIZIO: I appear for BAE Systems.

PN2

MR TROLLOPE: I appear for the employees of BAE Systems Product Support Group.

PN3

MR VEALE: I appear for DLM, Building 215 and Periscope on behalf of the employees.

PN4

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, you might need to explain that to me.

PN5

MR VEALE: It is a variety.

PN6

THE COMMISSIONER: Just, perhaps, stand up just to the microphone here, so who are you actually representing?

PN7

MR VEALE: I'm representing three groups.

PN8

THE COMMISSIONER: Okay.

PN9

MR VEALE: The DLM Division, Periscope, and Building 215.

PN10

THE COMMISSIONER: Thank you, and I gather, Mr Trollope, you represent certain other - - -

PN11

MR TROLLOPE: Yes, I represent the Holden Hill site.

PN12

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, thank you. Yes, if you would like to address the agreement?

PN13

MS DE VIZIO: Yes, Commissioner. This is an application under section 170LK of Division 2 of Part VIB of the Workplace Relations Act (1996) by BAE Systems Australia and its employees for certification of an agreement. The agreement applies to the BAE's Product Support employees, and for the purposes of this agreement, the Product Support employees, you have heard a couple of them today, but in essence Melaleuca, Takon Beacons, Deeper Level Maintenance, Periscope, Holden Hill Optical Production and Assembly Team, and the Rapier base repair facility, and that is situated at Edinburgh Parks at Holden Hill, South Australia.

PN14

The relevant requirements of the Act have been met. The negotiating team consisted of representatives of all employees from those groups. As you can see, two representatives are here today. There are four awards covering these employees and they are the Metal Engineering and Associated Industries Award (1998), the Metal Industry Award (1984) parts 2 and 5, the Caretakers and Cleaners Award, and the Clerks Metal Industry (SA) Award. All the Product Support employees are regulated by these awards and are covered under this agreement.

PN15

Should the agreement be certified, there will be no reduction in overall terms and conditions of employment. There is a dispute settlement procedure in clause 2.1. The agreement has a nominal expiry date of 31 December 2005, and the agreement has not entered a bargaining period. The agreement was voted on and approved by a valid majority of the employees on 16 June, 2003. Out of a total of 35 employees, 33 voted in favour of this agreement. If the Commission pleases, we seek certification of the agreement by the Commission. Thank you.

PN16

THE COMMISSIONER: Thank you, and perhaps if you could just answer a few questions for me. I'm, sort of, new to the Metal Industry panel so I haven't had a lot of dealing with these agreements previously. Is this the first agreement with this group of workers or is this - - -

PN17

MS DE VIZIO: This is the second one.

PN18

MR VEALE: Third.

PN19

MS DE VIZIO: Third, the third.

PN20

THE COMMISSIONER: In terms of the previous agreements, what changes are there? I presume, the wages. Are there any others?

PN21

MS DE VIZIO: Wages, obviously. The other was the introduction of the salary sacrificing for their superannuation contributions. Other than that, except for updating some allowances to bring them in line with the awards that was really all the changes made.

PN22

THE COMMISSIONER: The only changes, all right. Yes, thank you for that. Yes, do either of the employee reps wish to say anything about the agreement?

PN23

MR VEALE: If the Commissioner pleases, we are fully in support. My members voted unanimously to have this certified today, and we would like to see that - - -

PN24

MS DE VIZIO: See that happen.

PN25

MR VEALE: - - - signed off on. Thank you.

PN26

THE COMMISSIONER: Thank you. Mr Trollope, did you have anything further?

PN27

MR TROLLOPE: If the Commission pleases, only that the employees which I represent at Holden Hill were very pleased with the offer on the table and we are quite happy to accept it.

PN28

THE COMMISSIONER: Okay. I gather that you'd only have a couple of employees who are covered by the Caretakers and Cleaners Award?

PN29

MS DE VIZIO: I, at this point, think - sorry, at this point, I think there's only one. I believe there's only one and we have kept it in so that we have covered all of the awards. We didn't feel that we needed to take any of them out.

PN30

THE COMMISSIONER: Was that person involved in the - was that person a representative?

PN31

MS DE VIZIO: Not a representative, but was part of the group that had an employee representative, absolutely.

PN32

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, and were the clerical staff - did they have a rep?

PN33

MS DE VIZIO: Yes, they are part of the various projects that we spoke about and they all had reps. Several of the projects, there was probably only about 5 people involved so we joined those together and had one rep for say two or three of the projects.

PN34

THE COMMISSIONER: Look, the only reason I ask is just in terms of the reps being, I guess, attuned with the conditions of the people that they represent.

PN35

MS DE VIZIO: Absolutely.

PN36

THE COMMISSIONER: I'm sure the reps here today are more than familiar with their own conditions, but whether they are familiar with the conditions under other awards.

PN37

MS DE VIZIO: I'm confident that all of the employees had adequate representation on the negotiating team, and also got at the end - everyone got a final copy of the CA.

PN38

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, I understood that from the stat dec. Yes, all right. Nothing further?

PN39

MS DE VIZIO: No.

PN40

THE COMMISSIONER: I have before me an application by BAE Systems Australia Limited, pursuant to section 170LK of Division 2 of Part VIB of the Workplace Relations Act (1996) for certification of the BAE Systems Product Support Group Certified Agreement (2003). I'm satisfied that the proposed agreement meets the statutory requirements as set out in Division 2 and Division 4 of the Act. I also note that there's no substantive changes, other than the ones which have been outlined by Ms De Vizio today. I therefore approve the application for certification of the agreement, pursuant to section 170LT of the Act.

PN41

The agreement will be binding on the parties set out in clause 3 of the agreement - sorry, clause 1.6 of the agreement, being BAE Systems and all non-salaried employees set out in the occupations specified in clause 1.6. I gather these are all occupations under the parent awards that are identified in the statutory declaration, thank you. The agreement will operate from today's date, being 17 July 2003, and will have a nominal expiry date of 31 December 2005, and a certificate will be issued to the parties in due course. Thank you very much.

ADJOURNED INDEFINITELY [12.16pm]