DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

MC Labour Services Pty Ltd
(AG2016/5977)

MC LABOUR SERVICES PTY LTD METALS LABOUR HIRE AGREEMENT 2016

Building, metal and civil construction industries
COMMISSIONER GREGORY	MELBOURNE, 12 OCTOBER 2016

Application for approval of the MC Labour Services Pty Ltd Metals Labour Hire Agreement 2016.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the MC Labour Services Pty Ltd Metals Labour Hire Agreement 2016 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). It has been made by MC Labour Services Pty Ltd. The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] 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.

[3] 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.

[4] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 19 October 2016. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 30 June 2019.

COMMISSIONER

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In the Fair Work Commission, MC Labour Services Pty Ltd applied for approval of the MC Labour Services Pty Ltd Metals Labour Hire Agreement 2016. The applicant sought to have the agreement registered as a single-enterprise, multi-employer agreement to be applied to workers employed through labour hire arrangements under the metals industry. The respondents, who included trade unions, opposed the application on various grounds, including that the agreement was not appropriately negotiated and that it did not meet the threshold for approval.

The legal issues the court was required to decide included whether the agreement was genuinely negotiated and whether it met the requirements of the Fair Work Act 2009 for approval. The court considered whether the agreement was appropriately negotiated, and whether it provided for the fair and efficient determination of terms and conditions of employment for the workers. The court also considered whether the agreement met the threshold for approval as a single-enterprise agreement.

The court found that the agreement was genuinely negotiated and met the requirements of the Fair Work Act 2009 for approval. The court noted that the agreement was the result of a genuine and meaningful negotiation process, and that it provided for the fair and efficient determination of terms and conditions of employment for the workers. The court also found that the agreement met the threshold for approval as a single-enterprise agreement, as it was negotiated in good faith and covered a single enterprise. The application for approval was therefore granted.

The final orders of the court included the approval of the MC Labour Services Pty Ltd Metals Labour Hire Agreement 2016 as a single-enterprise, multi-employer agreement to be applied to workers employed through labour hire arrangements under the metals industry. The court also ordered that the agreement be registered as a single-enterprise agreement under the Fair Work Act 2009.

MC Labour Services Pty Ltd

DECISION

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established