Re Alcan Australia Limited & Ors; Ex parte Federation of Industrial, Manufacturing and Engineering Employees

The applicant, Federation of Industrial, Manufacturing and Engineering Employees, sought a writ of certiorari against the Honourable Michael Francis Moore, the Honourable Colin George Polities, and Bevan, in their capacities as Vice-President, Deputy President, and Commissioner of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. The application concerned a demand by the applicant that employers deduct union fees from employee salaries, a practice referred to as the "check-off" system. The respondent employers included Alcan Australia Limited and several other major aluminium producers.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether a demand for the deduction of union fees from an employee's salary constituted an "industrial dispute" within the meaning of the *Industrial Relations Act 1988* (Cth). This question required the Court to consider the scope of the definition of an industrial dispute and its connection to employment, particularly in light of previous High Court decisions.

The Court considered the applicant's submission that the "check-off" system had a clear and direct impact on employment, arguing that the decision in *Portus' case* (which dealt with the definition of "industrial matter" under the *Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904* (Cth)) did not adequately appreciate this impact. The applicant contended that while *Portus' case* characterized the demand as a financial relationship between employee and employer, the connection to employment was more direct than that decision might have suggested. The Court noted the difficulty in distinguishing the present case from *Portus' case*, and also referred to the *Shell case* in which the Court had indicated that the connection with employment could be less direct.