Qube Ports Pty Ltd T/A Qube Ports

[2020] FWCA 6993

[2020] FWCA 6993

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

Qube Ports Pty Ltd T/A Qube Ports
(AG2020/3211)

QUBE PORTS PTY LTD PORT OF TASMANIA ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2020

Stevedoring industry
DEPUTY PRESIDENT YOUNG	MELBOURNE, 23 DECEMBER 2020

Application for approval of the Qube Ports Pty Ltd Port of Tasmania Enterprise Agreement 2020.

[1] Qube Ports Pty Ltd (the Employer) has made an application for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Qube Ports Pty Ltd Port of Tasmania Enterprise Agreement 2020 (the Agreement) pursuant to s 185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The Agreement is a single-enterprise agreement.

[2] The memo provided to employees notifying them of the details of the vote does not specify the location at each site at which the vote was to take place. The Employer provided submissions as to this on 20 November 2020 and 21 December 2020. I am satisfied having regard to the Full Bench decision in Huntsman Chemical Company Australia Pty Ltd T/A RMAX Rigid Cellular Plastics & Others 1(Huntsman)that this constitutes a minor technical or procedural error for the purposes s 188(2)(a) of Act. Further, I am satisfied that in the present circumstances employees were not likely to have been disadvantaged by this error.

[3] Accordingly, notwithstanding the matters identified in paragraph 2 above, I am satisfied that the Agreement has been genuinely agreed within the meaning of s 188(2).

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

[5] Subject to the undertakings referred to above, and on the basis of the material contained in the application, the accompanying statutory declaration, and the additional information provided by the Employer, 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.

[6] The Maritime Union of Australia Division of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, being a bargaining representative for the Agreement, has given notice under s 183 of the Act that it seeks to be covered by the Agreement. In accordance with s 201(2) and based on the statutory declaration provided by the organisation, I note that the Agreement covers the organisation.

[7] The Agreement was approved on 23 December 2020 and, in accordance with s 54, will operate from 30 December 2020. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 30 June 2024.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

Annexure A

 1   [2019] FWCFB 318

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