Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association, the
[2016] FWCD 609
•11 March 2016
[2016] FWCD 609
DECISION
| Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 | |
| s.159—Alteration of other rules of organisation | |
| The Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association | |
| (R2015/272) | |
| MR ENRIGHT | MELBOURNE, 11 MARCH 2016 |
| Alteration of other rules of organisation. |
[1] On 8 December 2015 The Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association (the
Association) lodged with the Fair Work Commission a notice and declaration setting out
particulars of alterations to the rules of the Association.
[2] The particulars set out alterations to Rule 21.
[3] On the information contained in the notice, I am satisfied the alterations have been
made under the rules of the organisation.
[4] The alterations affect the Association’s governance structure.
[5] The government of the Association is vested in its Federal Executive. The Federal
Executive consists of the Federal President, the Senior Vice-President, the Vice-President, the
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Federal Secretary, the Assistant Federal Secretary, two Trustees and thirteen Councillors.
[6] The Councillors are elected by and from various areas of the Association’s
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| membership. | Under the current rules, two Councillors are elected by and from “financial |
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| members employed by Forstaff Avalon”. | The alterations abolish the Forstaff Councillors and |
allocate the resulting Councillor positions to financial members employed at “Virgin Blue or
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| its Maintenance and Repair Organisation provider” | and in the “Helicopter Sector”. |
[7] As I recently noted in Re: Independent Education Union of Australia alterations which
abolish offices “should be certified unless they are found to be not bona fide or that they have
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an oppressive, unreasonable or unjust effect on members”.
[8] The applicant submits:
The Forstaff provision in our rules and the subsequent Councillor positions related to a
company (Forstaff) who provided maintenance for Qantas at Avalon airport in Victoria.
Qantas closed the facility in March 2014 and ceased using Forstaff for the supply of labour at
the same time. Forstaff does not provide aviation services elsewhere. We have no Forstaff
members and there is little or no prospect of them resupplying labour to Qantas at Avalon as
they no longer maintain aircraft there.
[2016] FWCD 609
We originally had up to 500 members employed by Forstaff. We always try to balance our
Councillors to roughly one per 200-300 members. That being the case we decided to remove
those vacant Forstaff seats and re-allocate one to the Helicopter sector and another to our
growing Virgin membership base.
[9] The two Forstaff Councillor positions are vacant. No nominations were received in the
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last regular election.
[10] Abolishing an office where it is vacant and there is no prospect of being able to fill it
does not lack bona fides. Further, reallocating representative positions on a governing body
from areas where there are no members (either now or likely into the future) to areas where
membership is growing cannot be said to have an oppressive, unreasonable or unjust effect on
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members.
[11] In my opinion, the alterations comply with and are not contrary to the Fair Work
(Registered Organisations) Act 2009, the Fair Work Act 2009, modern awards and enterprise
agreements, and are not otherwise contrary to law. I certify accordingly under subsection
159(1) of the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009.
| DELEGATE OF THE GENERAL MANAGER |
| Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer |
| <Price code A, PR576555> |
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Rule 11(1).
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Rule 21(3).
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Current Rule 21(3)(c).
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Rule 21(c)(b).
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Proposed Rule 21(3)(c)
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[2015]FWCD 8168; 7 December 2015 at paragraph [5].
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E2014/53 - declared by the Australian Electoral Commission on 14 April 2014.
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See section 5 of the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009.
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