Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia

[2024] FWCA 2676

[2024] FWCA 2676

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009

s.185—Enterprise agreement

Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia

(AG2024/2479)

LIFT THREE PTY LTD AND ETU CONSTRUCTION & SERVICE ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2023-2026

Building, metal and civil construction industries
COMMISSIONER MIRABELLA	MELBOURNE, 19 JULY 2024

Application for approval of the Lift Three Pty Ltd and ETU Construction & Service Enterprise Agreement 2023-2026.

1. The Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia (the ETU) has made an application for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Lift Three Pty Ltd and ETU Construction & Service Enterprise Agreement 2023-2026 (the Agreement) pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the FW Act). The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

1. The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 (Cth) made a number of changes to enterprise agreement approval processes in Part 2-4 of the FW Act, that commenced operation on 6 June 2023. The notification time for the Agreement was 24 February 2024 and the Agreement was made on 25 June 2024. Accordingly, both the genuine agreement and the better off overall test requirements are those applying on and from 6 June 2023.

1. Lift Three Pty Ltd (the Employer) has provided a written undertaking. A copy of the undertaking is attached in Annexure A. I am satisfied that the undertaking will not cause financial detriment to any employee covered by the Agreement and that the undertaking will not result in substantial changes to the Agreement. The undertaking is taken to be a term of the Agreement.

1. Subject to the undertaking referred to above, and on the basis of the material contained in the application and accompanying declaration, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of sections 186, 187, 188 and 190, as are relevant to this application for approval, has been met.

1. The notice of employee representational rights was drafted using an outdated template and was, therefore, not in its prescribed form. Pursuant to s.188(5), I am satisfied that the Agreement would have been genuinely agreed to but for the minor procedural error made in relation to the requirement in s.174(1A) of the FW Act. I am satisfied that the employees covered by the Agreement were not likely to have been disadvantaged by the error. As a result, I am satisfied that the Agreement has been genuinely agreed to within the meaning of s.188(5) of the FW Act.

1. The ETU, being a bargaining representative for the Agreement, has given notice under s.183 of the FW Act that it wants the Agreement to cover it. In accordance with s.201(2), and based on the declaration provided by the organisation, I note that the Agreement covers the organisation.

1. The Agreement was approved on 19 July 2024 and, in accordance with s.54, will operate from 26 July 2024. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 1 March 2026.

COMMISSIONER

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Annexure A