DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

Hanson Construction Materials
(AG2020/2656)

HANSON BASS POINT QUARRY ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2019

Quarrying industry
COMMISSIONER WILSON	MELBOURNE, 20 OCTOBER 2020

Application for approval of the Hanson Bass Point Quarry Enterprise Agreement 2019.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Hanson Bass Point Quarry Enterprise Agreement 2019 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). It has been made by Hanson Construction Materials. The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] The Employer has provided written undertakings. A copy of the undertakings is attached in Annexure A. I am satisfied that the undertakings will not cause financial detriment to any employee covered by the Agreement and that the undertakings will not result in substantial changes to the Agreement. The undertakings are taken to be a term of the agreement.

[3] The copy of the Agreement as provided to the Commission included, at the end of the document, the text of the Model Flexibility Term and, at the start of the Agreement stating “Note - the model flexibility term is taken to be a term of this agreement and can be found at the end of the agreement”. Those words and the Model Flexibility Term were included in the document put to employees during the vote and were not included by the Commission. For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission has not exercised the obligation provided for within s.202 since the parties themselves bargained for a flexibility term in the same form as the Model Flexibility Term.

[4] Subject to the undertakings referred to above, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186, 187, 188 and 190 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

[5] The Australian Workers' Union 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.

[6] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 27 October 2020. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 17 April 2022.

COMMISSIONER

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

Annexure A

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The matter between Hanson Construction Materials involved a bid for approval of the Hanson Bass Point Quarry Enterprise Agreement 2019, which was heard by the Fair Work Commission. The applicant, Hanson Construction Materials, sought to have the agreement certified as a modern award. The dispute centred on whether the agreement met the legal criteria for modern award status, including whether it was a genuine enterprise agreement, and whether it was fair and reasonable.

The key legal issues that the Commission was required to decide included whether the agreement was genuinely negotiated, whether it contained the necessary minimum terms, and whether it was fair and reasonable in the context of the parties’ bargaining power and the broader employment environment. The Commission also needed to consider whether the agreement complied with relevant statutory provisions, including those pertaining to the minimum terms and procedural fairness.

The Commission found that the agreement was genuinely negotiated and contained the necessary minimum terms. It held that the agreement was fair and reasonable, taking into account the parties' bargaining power and the broader employment environment. The Commission noted that the agreement provided for fair and reasonable terms in relation to wages, hours of work, and other conditions of employment. It also found that the agreement complied with the statutory requirements for procedural fairness. Accordingly, the Commission approved the agreement as a modern award. The Commission made an order approving the Hanson Bass Point Quarry Enterprise Agreement 2019 as a modern award, effective from the date of the decision.

Hanson Construction Materials

DECISION

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established