DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

Keech Foundry Pty Limited
(AG2019/764)

KEECH FOUNDRY PTY LIMITED COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT 2019

Manufacturing and associated industries
COMMISSIONER WILSON	MELBOURNE, 3 SEPTEMBER 2019

Application for approval of the Keech Foundry Pty Limited Collective Agreement 2019.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Keech Foundry Pty Limited Collective 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 Keech Foundry Pty Limited. 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] 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.

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

[5] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 10 September 2019. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 3 September 2022.

COMMISSIONER

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

Annexure A

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Keech Foundry Pty Limited was a party to a collective agreement, and an application was made to the Fair Work Commission for its approval. The application was brought by the employer, Keech Foundry Pty Limited, and opposed by the union, United Voice. The nature of the dispute was whether the proposed agreement complied with the relevant statutory requirements and principles of good faith bargaining.

The legal issues the court was required to decide included whether the agreement was the product of genuine attempts at bargaining in good faith, whether it contained provisions that were contrary to public policy or unfair, and whether it complied with the statutory requirements for approval of a collective agreement. The court also needed to determine if the agreement was consistent with the principles of enterprise bargaining set out in the Fair Work Act.

The court found that the agreement was the product of genuine attempts at bargaining in good faith. The provisions of the agreement were not contrary to public policy or unfair, and it complied with the statutory requirements for approval of a collective agreement. The agreement was also consistent with the principles of enterprise bargaining set out in the Fair Work Act. The court approved the collective agreement.

The court ordered that the Keech Foundry Pty Limited Collective Agreement 2019 be approved as a registered agreement under the Fair Work Act. The agreement was to be registered by the Fair Work Commission and would be in effect from the date of registration.

Keech Foundry Pty Limited

DECISION

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established