Orora Fibre Packaging Australia Pty Ltd and “Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union” known as the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU)

[2018] FWC 56

[2018] FWC 56

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

STATEMENT

Fair Work Act 2009
s.576(2)(aa) - Promoting cooperative and productive workplace relations and preventing disputes

Orora Fibre Packaging Australia Pty Ltd
and
“Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union” known as the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU)
(NA2014/1)

DEPUTY PRESIDENT BOOTH SYDNEY, 9 JANUARY 2018

[1] Orora Fibre Packaging (OFP) and the AMWU have been working together to address the challenges facing OFP and its workforce since 2012.

[2] “Workplace collaboration” is what the parties call this ongoing initiative. The idea is that employees, their representatives and management work with one another closely in dealing with changes to work practices and work arrangements; decisions on changes affecting employees are meant to be taken after discussion and consultation with employees and their representatives, not taken just by management alone.

[3] To support this, the company and union have established a National Steering Committee and Site Change Teams at most sites, and they conduct an annual Site Leadership Forum.

[4] The Fair Work Commission has supported the parties by providing oversight, regular report-back conferences and occasionally, dispute resolution through a new Commission function supporting cooperative workplace relations.

[5] Significant improvement in the financial performance of OFP has been achieved. The parties have negotiated two successive Enterprise Agreements.

[6] OFP and the AMWU now want to understand the extent to which the workplace collaboration is understood and experienced at the front line. They also want to tailor training for Site Change Teams in 2018 in the light of this understanding.

[7] A short survey of OFP employees and managers will be undertaken during January 2018. Employees and managers are invited to complete the survey. Completion is voluntary and anonymous.

[8] The responses given in this survey will be treated confidentially, and are to be collected and analysed by me as the Member of the Fair Work Commission who has carriage of the New Approaches file.

[9] The results will be presented by me at the Site Leaders Forum in March 2018.

[10] Joint OFP and AMWU written communications, site meetings (including tool box meetings) will be held to provide the instructions to employees and managers about how to complete the survey.

[11] The survey will be accessed via the SurveyGizmo website and will have to be completed by participants online. It can also be accessed and completed using a smartphone. The web address for the survey will be provided to employees and managers by Orora and the AMWU. The survey will have only 11 questions. 10 of these questions require only a click on an optional answer. There is one box for written comments. It is not required to be completed but Orora and the AMWU would like employees and managers to use this box to say anything they want to about the Orora and AMWU workplace collaboration.

[12] The Commission will use the results of the survey to guide the content and design of training to be provided to Site Change Teams in 2018.

[13] I encourage employees and managers to complete the survey.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

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