C2007/763, Transcript of Proceedings [2007] AIRCTrans 519 (8 October 2007)

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

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Workplace Relations Act 1996 17551-1

COMMISSIONER WHELAN

C2007/763 C2007/764 C2007/783 C2007/785 C2007/787 C2007/800 C2007/801 C2007/815

Clause 29 Schedule 6 - Variation of transitional awards - general
Application by Transport Workers’ Union of Australia
(C2007/763)

MELBOURNE

2.06PM, FRIDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2007

THE FOLLOWING PROCEEDINGS WERE CONDUCTED VIA VIDEO CONFERENCE AND RECORDED IN MELBOURNE

PN1

THE COMMISSIONER: Good afternoon.

PN2

MR JOHNSON: Good afternoon, Commissioner.

PN3

THE COMMISSIONER: Mr Johnson, it looks like you're by yourself and we have nobody joining us in Darwin this afternoon.

PN4

MR JOHNSON: Yes, unfortunately that's the case, Commissioner. If I may kick off proceedings if that is appropriate?

PN5

THE COMMISSIONER: Absolutely, yes.

PN6

MR JOHNSON: As a preliminary matter, Commissioner, the matter C2007801 which relates to the Transport Workers Contractors to Regional Airlines Award 1998, we understand that that application is still active because we have not formally withdrawn the application, however, that was an oversight as there's no allowances in that.

PN7

THE COMMISSIONER: There's nothing to adjust?

PN8

MR JOHNSON: No.

PN9

THE COMMISSIONER: All right. Okay then.

PN10

MR JOHNSON: So that is actually the pre reform application.

PN11

THE COMMISSIONER: That's the pre reform award, yes.

PN12

MR JOHNSON: So there's nothing to adjust, so we seek to withdraw that application.

PN13

THE COMMISSIONER: All right then, I'll just note that the application in C2007/801 is now withdrawn.

PN14

MR JOHNSON: Thank you, Commissioner. Was there a particular order in which you - - -

PN15

THE COMMISSIONER: No. I'm quite happy to go with the order that you choose.

PN16

MR JOHNSON: Okay. If it pleases the Commission I may start with the Northern Territory based awards.

PN17

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes. Well, that was the intention, to do the Northern Territory ones first, yes.

PN18

MR JOHNSON: In that case the Northern Territory Public Sector Award, we have the application C2007785 which is the Transport Workers Northern Territory Public Sector Award 2002.

PN19

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, I have that.

PN20

MR JOHNSON: Commissioner, the Transport Workers Union has served and filed in the Commission the draft orders in relation to this matter. We have also served on the respondent party the appropriate paperwork, including the applications and the draft orders and the calculations along with the directions issued by the Commission and the notice of listing. We've been in contact with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment in the Northern Territory.

PN21

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, I have received correspondence from the Commissioner for Public Employment as well.

PN22

MR JOHNSON: Thank you. I understand there's no objection to the draft orders that have been filed.

PN23

THE COMMISSIONER: That's correct. The correspondence sent to me to says that the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment has reviewed the application and the orders, and agreement has been reached with the TWU on the terms of the draft order. I have no objection to varying the award in accordance with that.

PN24

MR JOHNSON: Thank you, Commissioner. In relation to the next application, the application for C2007787 which is the Transport Workers Northern Territory Barge Depots Award, I have a copy of the correspondence that was faxed to the respondent party. I'll seek to hand that up. This is a copy of the fax cover sheet, the applications and the draft order along with the calculations and the notice of listing for this matter, and the order for substituted service, and they were all faxed to the respondent parties. They were faxed on 17 September, and the transmission slip indicates that that was successfully served.

PN25

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes. And you've heard nothing from the Northern Territory Chamber?

PN26

MR JOHNSON: No, we have not.

PN27

THE COMMISSIONER: Neither have I.

PN28

MR JOHNSON: So on that basis, Commissioner, we seek that the application be granted.

PN29

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes. Well, I'm satisfied on the basis of the material that you've handed up that in accordance with the order for substituted service that the service has been affected, and I'm also satisfied on the basis of the material contained in the draft order that the application meets the requirements of the decision of the Full Bench in the wages and allowance review 2007. And as there's been no response from the Northern Territory Chamber in relation to this award I will grant the application.

PN30

MR JOHNSON: Commissioner, the next matter is the Transport Workers Northern Territory Oil Distribution Award, which is C2007815. There was one amendment to the draft order that had been filed with the Commission, and that was only in relation to item 12 where the amount from which the item was to be varied was incorrectly recorded as $84.90, and that is now $84.91.

PN31

THE COMMISSIONER: So it makes actually no difference in terms of the variation to the extent that the figure for the new rate is the same.

PN32

MR JOHNSON: That's correct.

PN33

THE COMMISSIONER: It's taken from the previous variation is it?

PN34

MR JOHNSON: That's correct, Commissioner.

PN35

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, okay then.

PN36

MR JOHNSON: This application was served on the parties in accordance with the directions.

PN37

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, thank you.

PN38

MR JOHNSON: I'll hand up a copy of that. Commissioner, again in accordance with the directions we have faxed to the respondent parties copies of the application, the draft order, the calculations, the notice of listing and the order for substituted service, and that's been done in accordance with the requirements of the directions. We've not heard a response from the respondents and we seek that the application be granted.

PN39

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, thank you. Well, I'm satisfied on the basis of the material provided that in accordance with the requirements of the Commission the respondents have been served with this application and a copy of the draft order, that the only variation now sought to be made to that draft is one which has no material impact on the outcome insofar as there is no variation to the rate which will apply once the order is varied. I'm therefore satisfied that the requirements have been met for this application and that the draft order as varied makes the requirements of the wages and allowance review decision 2007, and this application will also be granted.

PN40

MR JOHNSON: Commissioner, the next matter is the Transport Workers Pauls Limited Northern Territory Award. This is matter C2007819. I have a copy of the - - -

PN41

THE COMMISSIONER: I'm sorry, I don't have that one. That one hasn't been called on yet.

PN42

MR JOHNSON: Thank you.

PN43

THE COMMISSIONER: The ones that have been called that you haven't got to yet are 800, 763, 764 and 783, which are the Airport Handling Agents, the Mixed Industries Northern Territory, and the Contractors to Regional Airlines.

PN44

MR JOHNSON: Thank you, Commissioner. In relation to C2007783 which is the Transport Workers Mixed Industries Northern Territory Award, there's several amendments to the draft order that had been filed with the Commission. I'll hand up to you a copy of that amended draft order and the documents that had been served on the parties. The document which is the draft order, the only variations that were made to the draft order were in item 4 with item D, the amount of $52.24 was varied to now read $52.22. In item 4, item H, the employee driving a sanitary vehicle, the amount was varied from $16.95 to $16.94, and in item 4, item M, that's an employee handling money as defined over $1000 but not exceeding $1200, the amount of $7.84 was varied down to $7.83.

PN45

THE COMMISSIONER: So in fact they're all a reduction of one cent or, in the case of the first one, two cents are they not?

PN46

MR JOHNSON: That's correct, Commissioner.

PN47

THE COMMISSIONER: Right, okay.

PN48

MR JOHNSON: And they are just merely rounding errors which I subsequently identified after having served the draft orders. The draft orders along with the notice of listing and the order for substituted service and the application were filed and served in accordance with the directions. The respondent has not been in contact with us, and we seek that that application be granted.

PN49

THE COMMISSIONER: Thank you. I'm satisfied that the application in this matter and draft orders were served on the respondents in accordance with the Commission's directions. I'm also satisfied that the draft order as varied submitted today is consistent with the order submitted to the respondents save that certain amounts have been lowered. I therefore am satisfied that there is no issue that should require there to be any delay in dealing with this application. On the basis of the material before the Commission I'm satisfied that this application meets the requirements of the wages and allowances review 2007, and that there's no reason why I should not proceed therefore to vary that award.

PN50

MR JOHNSON: Thank you, Commissioner. The next matter is the Transport Workers Airport Handling Agents Award, this is C2007763 and C2007764. There's one variation in relation to the application 763, which is the transitional draft order, and that is in item 6 where the amount of $14.14 was amended to $14.13, and that's just to correct a rounding error. And the only other amendment that I now note is in the other draft order for C2007764, which just has a slight typographical error in the year date in a C number at the top of the draft order there. It just requires another zero to be added in C2007.

PN51

THE COMMISSIONER: Right, yes.

PN52

MR JOHNSON: Other than that, Commissioner, the Transport Workers Union did serve on the company a document which contained the draft orders, and I'll seek to hand that up.

PN53

THE COMMISSIONER: This was served on the Airport Handling Agents Cairns Pty Ltd, is that right?

PN54

MR JOHNSON: That's correct, Commissioner. This was sent by Express Post on 18 September, and we've not heard any response from the company, however, it contains a copy of the application, a copy of both applications, the draft orders, the notice of listing and the order for substituted service along with the calculations, and we say that that's been properly served, and we seek that the application be granted.

PN55

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, all right, thank you. Well, I'm satisfied that the respondent has been appropriately served in relation to these applications. I note that the variations to both of these awards in relation to item 6 are minimal and would not have any impact overall in terms of the draft that has been provided. The application in other respects meets the requirements of the Act and of the wages and allowances review decision, and I therefore see no reason as to why these two awards should not be varied in accordance with that decision.

PN56

MR JOHNSON: Commissioner, the next application is in relation to the Transport Workers Contractors to Regional Airlines Award, it's C2007800, the transitional award. There was one variation to the draft order which has no material impact, however, it just reflects that the adjustment for the transitional award was made by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission as opposed to the Australian Fair Pay Commission, and that is listed in item 2 of the draft order. Just for the record, we received correspondence from United Credit Union Ltd, which is one of the respondents to the award.

PN57

THE COMMISSIONER: So did we.

PN58

MR JOHNSON: And they indicate to us that they no longer employ anyone under that award and they haven't done so since January 2006. I haven't had a chance to confirm the veracity of this. I merely note it as a matter of fact that we received this correspondence.

PN59

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, the Commission also received correspondence to that effect. The correspondence will remain on the file. There is no application before the Commission to vary the award in relation to respondency so therefore I simply note the fact that this is the statement that has been made by one of the respondents.

PN60

MR JOHNSON: Thank you, Commissioner. There is a document which was faxed to the parties. I'll seek to hand that up to you now. This is a copy once again of the applications, the draft orders and the calculations along with the notice of listing and the order for substituted service. The only respondent that we have heard from was the one that you have just mentioned. We have not heard from the other respondents. On that basis we say that the application was properly served and we seek that the application be granted.

PN61

THE COMMISSIONER: Thank you. Yes, it does appear that the application has been properly served. The amendment which has been noted does not then make any material difference in terms of the variation that is sought, and I'm satisfied on the basis of the material before the Commission that the requirements for variation of the award have been met and there's therefore no reason why I shouldn't vary it in accordance with the application. I note in relation to all of these applications that the draft orders as submitted will be the order that's made by the Commission and that in each case the date of effect will be 1 October 2007.

PN62

MR JOHNSON: Commissioner, the other matters, I'm not sure whether they've been called.

PN63

THE COMMISSIONER: No, they haven't been called on as yet. We might just have - we might just, given that they are listed at 2.30 we might just have a few minutes and shut down the video link to the Northern Territory, which we haven't really needed.

PN64

MR JOHNSON: Thank you.

PN65

THE COMMISSIONER: And then we'll proceed with the other applications, Mr Johnson.

PN66

MR JOHNSON: Thank you, Commissioner.

<ADJOURNED INDEFINITELY [2.24PM]