DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

Southern Cross Grammar
(AG2017/6449)

SOUTHERN CROSS GRAMMAR ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2017-2021

Educational services
COMMISSIONER JOHNS	SYDNEY, 3 APRIL 2018

Application for approval of the Southern Cross Grammar Enterprise Agreement 2017-2021.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Southern Cross Grammar Enterprise Agreement 2017-2021 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). It has been made by Southern Cross Grammar. The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] The Applicant has provided written undertakings. A copy of the undertakings is attached in Annexure A. I am satisfied that the undertakings will not cause financial detriment to any employee covered by the Agreement and that the undertakings will not result in substantial changes to the Agreement.

[3] Subject to the undertakings referred to above, 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.

[4] The Independent Education Union of Australia 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.

[5] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 10 April 2018. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 2 April 2022.

COMMISSIONER

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

Annexure A

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Southern Cross Grammar is a private school in Darwin, Australia, which applied to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) for approval of an enterprise agreement with its teachers union. The union had argued that certain provisions of the agreement were not reasonably capable of being characterised as genuinely agreed upon by the parties. The FWC heard the application and was required to decide whether the provisions in question were genuinely agreed to by the parties.

The legal issues that the FWC was required to decide related to the genuineness of the agreement and whether certain provisions of the agreement were genuinely agreed upon by the parties. The union argued that the agreement had not been genuinely agreed to as the school had not adequately consulted with the union during the bargaining process. The school argued that the agreement had been genuinely agreed to and that the union's concerns were without merit.

The FWC found that the agreement had been genuinely agreed to by the parties. The FWC noted that the school had engaged in a genuine process of consultation with the union and that the union had not raised any objections to the agreement until after it had been finalised. The FWC also found that the provisions in question were reasonably capable of being characterised as genuinely agreed upon by the parties. The FWC rejected the union's arguments and approved the agreement.

The FWC made an order approving the Southern Cross Grammar Enterprise Agreement 2017-2021, subject to certain modifications to address the union's concerns. The modifications related to the process of consultation between the school and the union and did not alter the substantive terms of the agreement. The FWC noted that the agreement provided for a fair and reasonable outcome for both parties and that it was in the best interests of the school and its employees.

Southern Cross Grammar

DECISION

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established