J & C Industrial Services Pty Ltd

[2019] FWCA 5149

[2019] FWCA 5149

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

J & C Industrial Services Pty Ltd
(AG2019/2245)

J&C INDUSTRIAL SERVICES ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2019

Building, metal and civil construction industries
COMMISSIONER JOHNS	SYDNEY, 25 JULY 2019

Application for approval of the J&C Industrial Services Enterprise Agreement 2019.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the J&C Industrial Services 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 J & C Industrial Services Pty Ltd (the Applicant). The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] On 18 July 2019 the Fair Work Commission (Commission) wrote to the Applicant noting that only six employees voted to approve the Agreement. The Commission identified a potential issue regarding the scope of the Agreement and whether it could be said that the Agreement had been ‘genuinely agreed to by the employees covered by the agreement’, as required by s 186(2)(a) of the Act, noting the decision in Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union v One Key Workforce Pty Ltd. 1 A decision not disturbed on appeal, One Key Workforce Pty Ltd v Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.2

[3] In response on 23 July 2019, the Applicant's Representative submitted,

“the six (6) eligible employees who voted in favour of the Agreement each hold the necessary skills, qualifications and experience to work across all six (6) classifications levels in the Agreement and have between ten (10) to thirty (30) years of experience working in the construction industry across Western Australia, including in full-time roles.

The six (6) classifications levels in the Agreement all relate to construction workers: there are no other occupations covered by the Agreement. The employees all had an appreciation of the terms and conditions in the Agreement across the range of employees covered by the Agreement.” 3

[4] The Applicant’s Representative further submitted,

“That contrary to the decision in One Key, the relevant employees in the present application can be

“[168] regarded as having a sufficient appreciation of the appropriateness of the terms and conditions proposed for the disparate occupational classifications covered, including in industries foreign to their own”.

Contrary to the circumstances considered in One Key, there are, in the present application, no grounds for believing that the Agreement was not real or authentic in the sense of employees having an appreciation of the terms and conditions across the range of employees covered”. 4

[5] Having regard to all that has been submitted in relation to the matter 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.

[6] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 1 August 2019. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 24 July 2023.

COMMISSIONER

 1 [2017] FCA 1266

 2 [2018] FCAFC 77

 3   Applicant’s submissions of 23 July 2019, paras 6 – 7

 4   Applicant’s submissions of 23 July 2019, para 9, citing One Key [2018] FCAFC 77, [168]

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