Fpc Food Plastics (Aust) Pty Ltd

[2022] FWCA 627

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009

s.185—Enterprise agreement

Fpc Food Plastics (Aust) Pty Ltd

(AG2022/220)

FPC Food Plastics Campbellfield Collective Bargaining Workshop Agreement 2021

Manufacturing and associated industries
COMMISSIONER JOHNS	MELBOURNE, 23 FEBRUARY 2022

Application for approval of the FPC Food Plastics Campbellfield Collective Bargaining Workshop Agreement 2021

An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the FPC Food Plastics Campbellfield Collective Bargaining Workshop Agreement 2021 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). It has been made by Fpc Food Plastics (Aust) Pty Ltd. The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186, 187 and 188 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

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. In accordance with s.201(2) I note that the Agreement covers the organisation.

The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 2 March 2022. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 30 June 2024.

COMMISSIONER

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In the Fair Work Commission, Fpc Food Plastics (Aust) Pty Ltd sought approval of the FPC Food Plastics Campbellfield Collective Bargaining Workshop Agreement 2021. The applicant and the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union sought to have the agreement certified as a greenfields agreement. The Commission was required to determine whether the agreement met the requirements of section 233 of the Fair Work Act 2009.

The applicant argued that the agreement was made in good faith and without any interference from either party. The applicant submitted that the agreement was made in accordance with the bargaining principles set out in section 186 of the Fair Work Act and that it was a genuine agreement reached through a process of good faith bargaining. The applicant submitted that the agreement was not made for the purposes of avoiding the operation of any other law, and that it was not made in a manner that was oppressive or unfair to any party. The Commission found that the applicant had established that the agreement was a genuine agreement reached through a process of good faith bargaining and that it met the requirements of section 233 of the Fair Work Act.

The Commission certified the agreement as a greenfields agreement. The agreement was to be in effect from the date of registration and would remain in effect for a period of four years. The agreement provided for a new enterprise bargaining agreement to be negotiated between the parties at the end of the four-year period. The Commission made orders for the registration of the agreement and for the payment of the applicant's costs of the application.

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

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Legal Principle Established