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Fair Work Australia Transcripts |
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
Fair Work Act 2009 26256-1
DEPUTY PRESIDENT SAMS
AG2010/1117
s.185 - Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement
Application by Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited
(AG2010/1117)
Sydney
11.08AM, THURSDAY, 20 MAY 2010
PN1
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Could I have the appearance?
PN2
MS H. PARVIN: My name is Parvin, initial H, appearing for Vodafone Hutchison Australia.
PN3
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: You're from the company, or?
PN4
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's correct.
PN5
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I see. Perume, is it?
PN6
MS PARVIN: Parvin.
PN7
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Sorry?
PN8
MS PARVIN: Parvin.
PN9
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Parvin?
PN10
MS PARVIN: Yes.
PN11
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes. All right, Ms Parvin. Will you tell me, or give me some background to this application?
PN12
MS PARVIN: Sure. Sir, we understand the purpose of this preliminary hearing is to establish whether there are any issues which may prevent the approval of the agreement. Sir, we are not aware of any issues which would prevent the approval of the agreement - - -
PN13
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Well, that's not exactly right. Various members of the tribunal have different practices.
PN14
MS PARVIN: Yes.
PN15
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I list every application for approval, either in court, if you're Sydney based or locally based, or by telephone conference or video conference. So, if you have other experiences, you'll know that if you have me then that's what I require. So you may not have any - I may not have any issues with you, but I think I do.
PN16
MS PARVIN: Okay.
PN17
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: All right.
PN18
MS PARVIN: All right. Thank you. So, the background to this agreement then - sorry, one moment.
PN19
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Well it's to cover employees in the Northern Territory and South Australia, is it?
PN20
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's correct.
PN21
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Those who voted for it, I take it, are those employees in those - - -
PN22
MS PARVIN: That's correct.
PN23
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: - - - territory. In that territory and state?
PN24
MS PARVIN: That's correct.
PN25
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I see. All right. Proceed.
PN26
MS PARVIN: So, is it then a timeline of the process that - I'm just not clear on what exactly it is that - - -
PN27
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Well, can you firstly indicate the steps taken to advise the employees? They - this is outlined, I think, at 2.6.
PN28
MS PARVIN: Yes, okay. So the steps taken, firstly, were to hold a presentation night with employees on 22 March 2010. Employees were notified of this via email to their stores and also just general communications flowing through from their territory managers. So, on that presentation night, employees were taken though what the main features of the agreement were, so things like the leave conditions, the hours of work and those - just the basics of the agreement. The agreement was then given to employees on 23 March 2010. The employer's main method of communicating with its employees is via an employee bulletin site on the company's intranet. This is accessible via their stores, as well as anywhere at home where they have internet access. They have an individual log in ID which they use to access that site, so all employees have access to it.
PN29
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: How many stores are there in these two?
PN30
MS PARVIN: There are roughly 20 in the two areas. So, two - - -
PN31
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: They - - -
PN32
MS PARVIN: - - - being in the Northern Territory and roughly 18 in the South Australia region.
PN33
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Right, and would they be in, sort of, main metropolitan areas - - -
PN34
MS PARVIN: Yes, so in the Adelaide Metropolitan area and then in the Darwin area.
PN35
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I see. So they don't extend out beyond that?
PN36
MS PARVIN: No, that's correct.
PN37
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I see. Would they be in malls and things like that, would they?
PN38
MS PARVIN: Yes, so shopping malls - there are some which are kind of stand-alone stores in suburban areas, but the majority of them would be in shopping centres.
PN39
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you.
PN40
MS PARVIN: Sir, the information that was actually held in the Norwood Store, which is - it's close to the CBD in Adelaide and there was also a presentation held in one of the Darwin stores, and that was conducted by one of the store managers as there were flight problems that night so one of our territory managers couldn't make that, that night. So, 40 of the employees attended that presentation night. So, from that point on, 23 March 2010, that was when not only the agreement and the notice of representational rights were made accessible to employees via the intranet, there was also a number of other items of information such as - there was a document which - it was kind of a question and answer document, so that ran through, explains the basics of what a collective agreement is, what's this collective agreement? What are its main features? What do they mean? How will it work? Then also explaining the - because a lot of them are currently covered by AWAs and ITEAs, so explaining what that means in terms of the termination of those and how that - the eligibility to vote on the collective agreement and what it will mean if they stay on their AWA and ITEA.
PN41
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Well, I note that there are, included in the application, a number of those termination agreements.
PN42
MS PARVIN: That's correct.
PN43
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: But they wouldn't - they certainly don't cover all the employees, though, do they?
PN44
MS PARVIN: That's right. Not every single employee was on an AWA or ITEA. Just to give some background, I suppose, there was a merger between Vodafone. Vodafone and Hutchison were separate entities. As part of that merger process, Vodafone, which had previously outsourced its retail operations, proceeded to insource those operations. So, it bought back the stores, essentially. They were being run by four different companies and those four different companies all had very different employment arrangements.
PN45
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: So there's a total of 11 of those employees. Are they the full extent of those covered by AWAs or - - -
PN46
MS PARVIN: No, they're not the full extent. So, there are still a few employees that have not yet terminated their AWAs or ITEAs.
PN47
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: It is the intention of the parties to do that?
PN48
MS PARVIN: Those employees - we haven't discussed it individually with those employees, beyond - they were made aware of the consequences of staying on the AWA or ITEA. We have no intention, at this stage, to force them to terminate or anything to that effect. If they want to remain on those AWAs or ITEAs, they're welcome to.
PN49
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: But, do I take it this agreement provides better terms and conditions than those - - -
PN50
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's right. Yes.
PN51
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Well, why wouldn't they want to come over?
PN52
MS PARVIN: Being that there was a merger in the middle of last year, there's been a lot of change for these employees and a lot of resistance to change and, at the same time as this agreement was lodged, there were a number of other changes being implemented in the business, so we're seeing a little bit of people wanting to hang on to the past rather wanting to move forward.
PN53
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I see. All right.
PN54
MS PARVIN: So, from 23 March, there was also a calculator, which was available on the intranet site which - it allowed them to put in a typical roster and it would show them the penalty rates and things that they would earn, because some of them were not used to earning penalty rates, some of them were on an all inclusive rate, so it was designed to show them what their pay might look like under the collective agreement, and a copy of the presentation from the launch night was also posted on this site so, if employees couldn't make the presentation, they had access to it on the intranet.
PN55
Two days later, on 25 March, we sent letters to all of our retail employees and that outlined what their rate of pay would be - their base rate of pay would be under the collective agreement. So, it showed them what their current rate of pay was and then it would tell them what their new rate of pay would be and then it explained that they would also receive penalty rates on top of that if they were full-time retail associates, as well. From that point on, it was a process of consultation. We were briefed that the territory managers and the state managers - to have discussions with employees, visit stores and ask questions about the agreement and facilitate their understanding.
PN56
There are also a number of avenues available on the intranet site, such as, there was, what we call the "blog tool" which, basically, allowed employees to post a question and then HR would respond to that question about the agreements with a response. So, they were aware at that time that we would be taking the feedback on board. As a result of their feedback, we did make some changes to the agreement and then, on 12 April 2010, that's when we issued the final version of the agreement. Again, we put that on the intranet site, we sent an email out to all the stores informing them that the final version was available, and also it explained what the changes were that had been made to the agreement, and also clarification of some of the conditions which hadn't had as much information released. We, kind of, issued an update or a clarification of those conditions, as well.
PN57
So, from that point on, there was still a process of consultation in terms of helping employees to understand the agreement, so there was a more intense process conducted by the territory managers to visit stores and make sure everyone had gone through the calculator, everyone was aware of the implications about the AWAs and ITEA termination. Just speaking to them, generally, and facilitating their understanding. The blog tool was certainly still open on the intranet, so they were still able to post questions and receive a response. Also, throughout the whole process, they had HR's contact details and they were able to contact HR directly or ask their store manager or their direct manager to do so, as well.
PN58
In the week leading up to the vote - and I should probably add, at this point, that from the very beginning of the process, 22, 23 March, employees were aware of the method that would be used to vote and where that would occur, so that was actually - that actually occurred online on that bulletin site, as well. But, just in - - -
PN59
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: The method of voting is not explained here.
PN60
MS PARVIN: Okay. So, basically, the method of voting was, in the bulletin site it was set up as a mini-site, so it was called, "Collective," and it had its own branding and that's where they had all been visiting to get the information. On 26 - sorry, 27 April 2010, an additional button, if you like, was added to that bulletin board which said, "Vote now." It was in red, so it was very prominent, and that had been explained to employees that, basically, from 23 March - that it would be available from that intranet site, specifically in the collective site, and that it would obviously be an online vote. So, during the - - -
PN61
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: But did the vote identify who the voter was?
PN62
MS PARVIN: Who the voter - in terms of the region, or?
PN63
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: No.
PN64
MS PARVIN: Right, yes. So, when they log on to the site, they actually have a unique ID number that they use to log in to the site and then the vote, itself, made a note of that - when they registered their vote it also registered their employee ID. That actual service was collated by an external provider, it wasn't actually collated by us, they just provided us the result at the end, and - - -
PN65
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: So, you say the mechanism, or the method, did not identify how a particular person voted?
PN66
MS PARVIN: No, that's correct. That may have been visible to the provider, our external provider, but they certainly didn't provide that information to us.
PN67
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I see. Well nevertheless, it's only slightly above 50 per cent of those that are eligible to be covered did vote.
PN68
MS PARVIN: That's right.
PN69
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I accept that there was a clear majority, but can you - - -
PN70
MS PARVIN: Shed some light on that?
PN71
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes.
PN72
MS PARVIN: A number of - the number who will be covered - a number of them were still covered by AWAs and ITEAs, some of which - well, obviously, ITEAs had expired, but some - most - the majority of the AWAs that were still in effect had not yet expired, so that would be part of the reason. The other part of the reason - I can only speculate, but there was a number of other processes happening at that same time. That was quite a busy week for South Australia in particular, they were being trained on new Point of Sale Systems as well, and there's also - but also recently announced some changes with store closures and team moving from stores, so I think it might have slipped under the radar for some people and while we did try as, very - we did try to encourage votes and we, I guess - and the other issue, I suppose, is that the state manager, at that time, was in the process of leaving the business.
PN73
He had given his notice, so I think there might not have been as much push as there should have been, given that he might have been focused on closing off his existing activities.
PN74
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: All right. Okay.
PN75
MS PARVIN: So, during the vote time, as well as before the vote time, there was kind of the countdown to the vote, so every time employees logged on to the bulletin site, in general, they would get a reminder that the vote was coming up and then they would get a reminder during the voting period that the vote was open and where to go. We also sent emails to stores pretty much daily, throughout the week or so, just to remind them to vote. So that vote concluded - - -
PN76
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: They might have got annoyed by all the reminders.
PN77
MS PARVIN: Pardon?
PN78
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: They might have got annoyed by all the reminders.
PN79
MS PARVIN: Perhaps. I mean - - -
PN80
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: That's not a criticism, by the way.
PN81
MS PARVIN: Yes, I'm sorry. Yes, so the vote concluded on 30 April. So, that brings us to where we are.
PN82
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Do you have other agreements such as this in the other states?
PN83
MS PARVIN: Yes, so we have a similar kind of agreement in - there are five other types of agreement. One for Western Australia, one for Queensland, one for New South Wales, one for the ACT and one for Victoria and Tasmania combined.
PN84
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Have they been approved by Fair Work Australia?
PN85
MS PARVIN: No, they were lodged at the same time. They have - we haven't received any correspondence from Fair Work Australia in relation to those.
PN86
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I see, so they were all lodged at the same time, were they?
PN87
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's right. All within half an hour of each of them.
PN88
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Well, it's strange that I only got one of them.
PN89
MS PARVIN: Yes, I find that strange, too.
PN90
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: We could have - - -
PN91
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's right. I did raise the matter with your associate and was told that it had been allocated to another Commissioner and I asked whether they could be heard together.
PN92
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I see.
PN93
MS PARVIN: I was told that there was no facility to have them heard together, given that they've been allocated to different members.
PN94
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Well, we could just give each other the files, I suppose, but anyway. All right. Now, the reference instrument is the general retail industry modern award, yes?
PN95
MS PARVIN: That's correct.
PN96
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: You affirm - well, you indicate, at 3.4, that there are some provisions which are less beneficial, although in looking at them, they don't appear to be of major significance. Is that right?
PN97
MS PARVIN: That's correct. Yes, we would say that the - where the benefits are lesser, in terms of comparison to the modern award, they're compensated by the other changes that we've flagged at 3.5.
PN98
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: So, the wages are generally higher, are they, than the award?
PN99
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's right. So, the casual rate is actually about 50 cents higher, and the full-time rate is about - it's only about a hundred or $200 a year higher.
PN100
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: A year?
PN101
MS PARVIN: A year, that's correct. So, it's very - it's slightly higher for full-time retail associates. For assistant store managers and store managers, it's well in excess of the award, so for assistant manager it's 43,000 a year. Store manager is 49,000 a year.
PN102
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: They don't - they're not eligible for overtime or penalty rates though, are they?
PN103
MS PARVIN: That's right, and what we would say in response to that is, the reality is, they don't often work overtime. The only time they may work overtime is they might do stocktake once a month and that might entail them working back maybe two or three hours, so once a month, and then maybe at Christmas time, they might do a little over as well. We had a general - - -
PN104
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: But who would be in charge if they - if other employees were employed past the ordinary hours?
PN105
MS PARVIN: So, we generally roster it such that there's either a retail store manager or an assistant store manager on. So, all of the opening hours for the store's trading hours - - -
PN106
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes.
PN107
MS PARVIN: - - - so, generally, that would work out such that there would be one manager on duty at all times.
PN108
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I appreciate that each store will have slightly different numbers, but how many of the employees, other than store managers and assistant store managers, would be in a particular store?
PN109
MS PARVIN: Generally - yes. It would range from two other employees for our smaller stores.
PN110
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes.
PN111
MS PARVIN: Some being as high as about six employees.
PN112
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I see. This arrangement about store managers and assistant store managers not being eligible for overtime or penalty rates, has that been a feature of the - - -
PN113
MS PARVIN: Yes.
PN114
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: - - - your operations previously?
PN115
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's right. In the other retail stores that we operate, that's the way we do pay our assistant store managers and store managers and those ones, and also, that's the way that they are currently paid now, with the exception of - some of them do get public holiday penalties and some of them might get a penalty rate if they work more than a certain number of penalty shifts in a certain time period. So, say, more than three late nights in a four-week period, that kind of thing. But, generally, they don't get overtime - we do make exceptions. We have kind of a customary practice where we might - you know, if they say to the territory manager that they've done quite a bit of overtime - an unusual amount of overtime in a particular week, we would usually pay them for those hours or allow them time off in lieu, but it's just an informal arrangement, I suppose.
PN116
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Are the other agreements in the same style? That is, each of the clauses is headed by a question?
PN117
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's correct. Yes.
PN118
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: The agreement is to be effective from - for three years?
PN119
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's correct.
PN120
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: All right. I see that there are two mechanisms by which you might secure wage adjustments during this period, either by way of market changes, which I don't really understand, or by an annual performance review.
PN121
MS PARVIN: Yes.
PN122
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Is that how it's traditionally applied in this - for your company?
PN123
MS PARVIN: Yes, that is how it's traditionally applied for our company. Keeping in mind that we didn't own the Vodafone stores until very recently, but certainly for our other retail stores, that's been the case. By market rates, that's designed to encompass, say, the minimum wage increases.
PN124
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: That was going to be my next question.
PN125
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's right. So that's the attention of that, and also just beyond, if there's any kind of trend in the retail industry towards - or even in the more - the telecommunications retail industry, kind of, our competitors; if they pay higher, the market rates clause is designed to indicate the intention that we would match those rates. Our ambition is to become a competitive employer in the retail industry, so that's what that clause is talking about.
PN126
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Most employers would say that they would do that by paying lesser wages than their competitors.
PN127
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's right. We have a desire to - our main company goal, at this stage, is to provide better customer service and to be the most recommended employer in our industry, so to that - that's one of the things that we're hoping to - we don't quite have the budget at the moment to go above the minimum, but that's certainly the intention in coming years.
PN128
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: These annual reviews, is that for everybody?
PN129
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's company-wide, not just in the retail stores. Yes.
PN130
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Does it occur at a particular time of the year, or is it throughout the year for everybody?
PN131
MS PARVIN: It's usually January in - usually the review happens in January, individual discussions happen in February and then the implementation day would be 1 March.
PN132
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: How is it - how are the rates established? Is it on an individual's performance or is it on a store performance, or?
PN133
MS PARVIN: It's mostly - they're very much a team environment that we're trying to establish in our Vodafone stores, so it would be a store based - it would be largely store based, but there would be room for a little bit more for particular individuals, as well. So, a bit of both, I would suppose. At the minimum - the way it would work is, all employees would get a minimum, kind of a store based increase and then some individuals might receive a little bit above that, as well.
PN134
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Can you tell me what happened last year. Was there widespread increases?
PN135
MS PARVIN: There were in head office. With the retail employees, given that there was a number of different instruments covering them, that didn't occur in retail. It did for certain individuals, but it was decided - we knew that this collective agreement was coming into effect so we decided to, kind of, roll it into this agreement and the intention this year was to make it more of benefits based increase rather than a dollar based increase, given that there was such disparity in paying conditions for employees at that time.
PN136
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Let's assume, then, that there is no basis, under either a performance review or market changes, for an increase, either in the next - the first year or the third year. However, the award may have changed, in which case that would - and may have changed significantly above the rates you are now applying.
PN137
MS PARVIN: So - - -
PN138
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: What do you say should happen then?
PN139
MS PARVIN: Yes, so we will be - irrespective of the review that happens in January/February, we will be applying - the intention would be to apply the equivalent of whatever increase that Fair Work Australia grants to employees at that time and then, beyond that, if the company's performance or the store's performance has been better than that, there might be another increase - - -
PN140
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: All right, well thank you for that, but the agreement actually doesn't say that. Are you prepared to give an undertaking to that effect?
PN141
MS PARVIN: Yes, if that's what is required to get the agreement over the line. Certainly.
PN142
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Well, I think - I'm not suggesting there's anything untoward about it, but you can well imagine, if, for some reason, there's no increase - mind you, it would probably be because the award must meet the BOOT test, or the - because the agreement must meet the BOOT test, it may be that it's implied that you would have to, at least - - -
PN143
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's right.
PN144
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: - - - meet what the new corresponding rates were for the modern award. But I think it would be nice for the employees to know that - well, at the very least, we're going to get increases that might be available through Fair Work Australia's annual minimum rates review - - -
PN145
MS PARVIN: Certainly.
PN146
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: - - - which is coming up very soon.
PN147
MS PARVIN: Yes.
PN148
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: So, if you could give a section 90 undertaking - - -
PN149
MS PARVIN: Yes.
PN150
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: - - - on behalf of the company - you can file that at a later stage, it's got to be signed and it will become a term of the agreement - expressed in such a way as to indicate that, notwithstanding there may be other increases, employees can be - it can be guaranteed that their rates will not fall below those that might apply as a result of minimum rates adjustments to the modern award, or the relevant modern award.
PN151
MS PARVIN: Certainly.
PN152
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Anyway, I'll let you think about the wording.
PN153
MS PARVIN: Certainly, thank you.
PN154
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: If I'm not comfortable with it, I'll let you know.
PN155
MS PARVIN: Okay.
PN156
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: But you get the gist of what I'm saying, don't you?
PN157
MS PARVIN: Yes, thank you.
PN158
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: You've indicated that's what you intended to do anyway.
PN159
MS PARVIN: That's right.
PN160
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: But, as I said, the employees would like to think that they're not going to be locked into no increase, simply because of what might be expressed there and mightn't happen.
PN161
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's fair enough, thank you.
PN162
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: All right, thank you. Now, the penalty rates for work outside of - after 6 pm and on a Saturday, are 25 per cent?
PN163
MS PARVIN: For full-timers, yes, that's correct.
PN164
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes. Is that the same in the award?
PN165
MS PARVIN: It's not quite the same. I don't have that off the top of my head. Okay, so under the award: Saturdays, until 12.30 pm, ordinary rates are 25 per cent. Sorry, excuse me, I'm looking at the wrong section.
PN166
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Be under overtime, wouldn't it?
PN167
MS PARVIN: Overtime?
PN168
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Isn't it? I don't have the award with me, that's all.
PN169
MS PARVIN: Pardon, sorry?
PN170
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I don't have the award with me.
PN171
MS PARVIN: Yes. Sorry, this is a complicated one. Okay, yes. On Saturdays, until 12.30 pm, it is 25 per cent. On late nights, it is 25 per cent for full-timers. After that, under the NAPSA, it would have been overtime. Under the modern award, it would be 25 per cent for afternoons on a Saturday.
PN172
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I see. But, wouldn't you, generally, be open on a Saturday afternoon?
PN173
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's correct.
PN174
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Fall under Saturday, so you would have a store manager and assistant store manager there at - - -
PN175
MS PARVIN: We would, usually, on the weekend, roster one of the store - one of the managers off, so it would only be either the store manager or the assistant store manager, usually.
PN176
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Right, and you say that the rates that they are being paid comprehend - - -
PN177
MS PARVIN: Yes, that's correct.
PN178
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: - - - and, at least, compensate them for that loading they would otherwise receive?
PN179
MS PARVIN: That's correct.
PN180
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: All right, thank you. I propose to approve the agreement. I'm satisfied, from what you've expressed to me, that the agreement meets all of the relevant statutory provisions, in particular sections 186, 187 and 188, and I am also satisfied that the process of consultation and the approval process has been genuinely and comprehensively entered into. I will grant tentative approval to the agreement, pending the filing of the section 90 undertaking in respect to adjustment of wage rates, by at least minimum rates adjustments in the relevant modern award, and the agreement shall take effect, pursuant to section 54 of the act, seven days hence, being 27 February 2010 - sorry, not February - May 2010, and to remain in force and effect until 27 May - I don't know why I'm saying February - May 2013.
PN181
In addition, I shall formally terminate the 11 individual agreements identified in termination agreements filed with the application. There is, attached to the application, a schedule of the names of the employees and the details of their individual agreements which are to be terminated. I shall issue orders to give effect to the termination of those agreements, effective on and from 27 May 2010. I thank you, Ms Parvin, for your attendance at the tribunal today, and for your explanation of the agreement and the - - -
PN182
MS PARVIN: Thank you, Deputy President.
PN183
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you. I now adjourn.
<ADJOURNED INDEFINITELY [11.42AM]
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