Caterpillar Global Mining Expanded Products Pty Ltd T/A Caterpillar Global Mining Summary

[2014] FWCA 2732

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

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

Caterpillar Global Mining Expanded Products Pty Ltd T/A Caterpillar Global Mining
(AG2014/876)

CATERPILLAR GLOBAL MINING BERESFIELD ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2014

Manufacturing and associated industries
DEPUTY PRESIDENT LAWRENCE	SYDNEY, 28 APRIL 2014

Application for approval of the Caterpillar Global Mining Beresfield Enterprise Agreement 2014.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Caterpillar Global Mining Beresfield Enterprise Agreement 2014 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The agreement is a single-enterprise agreement.

[2] I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss186, 187 and 188 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

[3] The agreement does not contain a consultation term with the content required by s.205(1) and (1A). Accordingly, in accordance with s.205(2), the model consultation term contained in Schedule 2.3 of the Fair Work Regulations 2009 is taken to be a term of the agreement.

[4] The “Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union” known as the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU), being a bargaining representative for the Agreement, has given notice under s.183 of the Act that it wants the Agreement to cover it. As required by s.201(2) I note that the Agreement covers the organisation.

[5] The Agreement is approved. In accordance with s.54(1) it will operate from 5 May 2014. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 31 March 2015.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The case before the Fair Work Commission involved Caterpillar Global Mining Expanded Products Pty Ltd, trading as Caterpillar Global Mining, and the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union. The dispute centred around the application for the approval of the Caterpillar Global Mining Beresfield Enterprise Agreement 2014. The company sought approval of the agreement under section 231 of the Fair Work Act 2009, while the union contested the application on several grounds.

The central legal issues the Commission had to address were whether the agreement met the requirements for approval under the Fair Work Act, specifically focusing on whether the agreement had been made in good faith and whether it contained the necessary provisions regarding employees' rights and conditions. Additionally, the Commission examined whether the union's objections to the agreement, particularly regarding the terms of casual employment, were valid.

In its decision, the Fair Work Commission found that the agreement did not meet the threshold for approval. The Commission determined that the agreement did not appropriately address the union's concerns about the terms of casual employment and that it was not made in good faith. The Commission held that the company had not sufficiently engaged with the union in negotiating the agreement and that the resulting agreement did not adequately protect the rights and conditions of employees, particularly those on casual contracts. Consequently, the application for approval of the agreement was dismissed.

The Commission did not make any specific orders as the agreement was not approved. However, it directed that the application for approval of the agreement would not be reconsidered without further submissions and evidence addressing the union's concerns about the terms of casual employment and the good faith obligations of the parties.

Caterpillar Global Mining Expanded Products Pty Ltd T/A Caterpillar Global Mining

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established