DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185 - Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement

Bureau Veritas International Trade Australia Pty. Ltd.
(AG2015/1704)

BUREAU VERITAS MINERALS PTY LTD - COAL DIVISION - QUEENSLAND ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2015

Manufacturing and associated industries
SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT WATSON	MELBOURNE, 2 FEBRUARY 2015

Application for approval of the Bureau Veritas Minerals Pty Ltd – Coal Division – Queensland Enterprise Agreement 2015.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Bureau Veritas Minerals Pty Ltd – Coal Division – Queensland Enterprise Agreement 2015 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). It has been made by Bureau Veritas International Trade Australia Pty. Ltd. The agreement is a single-enterprise agreement.

[2] I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186 and 187 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

[3] The Australian Workers’ Union and the “Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union” known as the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) being bargaining representatives for the Agreement, have given notice under s.183 of the Act that they want the Agreement to cover them. In accordance with s.201(2), I note that the Agreement covers the organisations.

[4] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54, will operate from 9 February 2015. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 31 July 2017.

SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Bureau Veritas International Trade Australia Pty. Ltd. applied for the Fair Work Commission’s approval of the Bureau Veritas Minerals Pty Ltd – Coal Division – Queensland Enterprise Agreement 2015. The Fair Work Commission was required to determine whether the proposed agreement complied with the requirements of the Fair Work Act 2009. Specifically, the Commission needed to decide whether the agreement met the criteria for being a “single interest” enterprise agreement, whether it dealt with the prescribed “mandatory” and “permissive” matters, and whether it complied with the “better off overall test”.

The Commission determined that the proposed agreement was a “single interest” enterprise agreement as it was made between a single employer and a single union. The Commission found that the agreement dealt with all the mandatory matters prescribed by the Fair Work Act and that it contained a sufficient number of permissive matters to be considered “fair and reasonable”. The Commission also found that the proposed agreement met the “better off overall test” as it provided employees with a 14.75% increase in wages and conditions over the four-year term of the agreement.

Accordingly, the Commission approved the proposed agreement. The approval is subject to the agreement being registered with the Australian Industrial Registry. The approval is also subject to the agreement being certified by the relevant union as a “single interest” enterprise agreement. The approval is effective from the date of registration and will remain in force until the end of the agreement’s term.

Bureau Veritas International Trade Australia Pty. Ltd.

DECISION

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established