Royal Foods Aust Pty Ltd

[2019] FWCA 3489

[2019] FWCA 3489

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

Royal Foods Aust Pty Ltd
(AG2019/289)

ROYAL FOODS BRUNSWICK ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2018

Storage services industry
DEPUTY PRESIDENT MANSINI	MELBOURNE, 6 JUNE 2019

Application for approval of the Royal Foods Brunswick Enterprise Agreement 2018.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Royal Foods Brunswick Enterprise Agreement 2018 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). It has been made by Royal Foods Aust Pty Ltd. The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] The Agreement lodged with the application contained a typographical error at clause 4 (period of operation). On 3 June 2019, an amended Agreement page was filed by the Applicant correcting the error. The employee bargaining representative supports the correction. I am satisfied that this correction should be made and that it is appropriate to do so pursuant to s.586 of the Act.

[3] The Notice of Employee Representational Rights issued at the commencement of bargaining was not strictly compliant with s.174 because it was given under the Applicant’s then trading name, Royal CDS Pty Ltd, whereas the legal employing entity and employer covered by the Agreement is Royal Foods Aust Pty Ltd. The trading name changed during the course of bargaining. The employing entity has remained the same at all relevant times and is consistent with the enterprise agreement that the Agreement will replace. In the circumstances and having regard to the decision in Huntsman Chemical Company Australia Pty Limited t/a RMAX Rigid Cellular Plastics and Others 1, I am satisfied that:

a) this constitutes a minor procedural or technical error for the purposes of s.188(2)(a); and
b) the employees to be covered by the Agreement were not likely to have been disadvantaged by the error.

[4] Accordingly, I am satisfied that the Agreement was genuinely agreed within the meaning of s.188(2) of the Act.

[5] On the basis of the material contained in the application, accompanying statutory declaration, amended Agreement page and further information provided on request of the Commission, 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] Noting clause 6 of the Agreement, I am satisfied that the more beneficial entitlements of the National Employment Standards in the Act (NES) will prevail where there is an inconsistency between the Agreement and the NES.

[7] The National Union of Workers (NUW) being a bargaining representative for the Agreement, supports approval of the Agreement and has given notice under s.183 of the Act that it wants the Agreement to cover it. In accordance with s.201(2), and based on the statutory declaration provided by the NUW, I note that the Agreement covers the organisation.

[8] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 13 June 2019. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 30 June 2021.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

 1   [2019] FWCFB 318 – see in particular [52], [74] and [156]-[157].

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