Springwood Uniting Kids Care
[2017] FWCA 3773
•7 August 2017
| [2017] FWCA 3773 |
| FAIR WORK COMMISSION |
| DECISION |
Fair Work Act 2009
s.222 - Application for approval of a termination of an enterprise agreement
Springwood Uniting Kids Care
(AG2017/2332)
| Educational services | |
| Commissioner Johns | SYDNEY, 7 August 2017 |
Application for termination of the Springwood Uniting Kids Care Enterprise Agreement 2014.
On 19 June 2017 Springwood Uniting Kids Care (applicant) made an application in the Fair Work Commission (Commission) to terminate the Springwood Uniting Kids Care Enterprise Agreement 2014 (Springwood Agreement) under s.222 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act).
Section 223 of the Act sets out the conditions which must be met for an agreement to be terminated pursuant to s.222 of the Act:
“223 When the FWC must approve a termination of an enterprise agreement
If an application for the approval of a termination of an enterprise agreement is made under section 222, the FWC must approve the termination if:
(a) the FWC is satisfied that each employer covered by the agreement complied with subsection 220(2) (which deals with giving employees a reasonable opportunity to decide etc.) in relation to the agreement; and
(b) the FWC is satisfied that the termination was agreed to in accordance with whichever of subsection 221(1) or (2) applies (those subsections deal with agreement to the termination of different kinds of enterprise agreements by employee vote); and
(c) the FWC is satisfied that there are no other reasonable grounds for believing that the employees have not agreed to the termination; and
(d) the FWC considers that it is appropriate to approve the termination taking into account the views of the employee organisation or employee organisations (if any) covered by the agreement.”
The application was supported by a statutory declaration made by Doug Taylor, the applicant’s Director. Mr Taylor declared that the following steps were taken by the applicant to ensure that the relevant employees were given a reasonable opportunity to decide whether they wanted to approve the termination of the Springwood Agreement:
a)on 26 April 2017 initial discussions were held with the applicant’s staff at a town hall meeting. At this meeting staff were given the option to either remain covered by the Springwood Agreement or transition to the UnitingCare Children Young People and Families Directly Provided Children’s Services Enterprise Agreement (Uniting Agreement),
b)on 4 May 2017 another town hall meeting was held (May Meeting) to answer questions that staff may have had regarding their option to remain covered by the Springwood Agreement or transition to the Uniting Agreement,
c)at the May Meeting a document was provided to staff which provided a comparison between the two agreements. Staff were invited to ask questions by contacting the applicant’s human resources staff by either telephone or email,
d)on 24 May 2017 the respondent provided its staff with a letter providing formal notice of the voting period, together with a full copy of the Uniting Agreement, the comparisons document, a questions and answers document and an invitation to staff to ask any questions,
e)on 30 May 2017 the applicant’s Human Resources Business Manager attended the work site to answer any questions submitted by staff individually or in groups, and
f)between 1 June and 5 June 2017 the employees voted on whether to terminate the Springwood Agreement.
Mr Taylor also declared that 13 of 27 employees covered by the Springwood Agreement voted on its termination and all 13 voted in favour.
On 28 June 2017 the Commission directed that:
a)by 3 July 2017 the applicant must email a copy of the Directions to its employees and file a statutory declaration confirming compliance with the same, and
b)any employee or organisation opposing the termination of the Agreement, must file submissions in opposition to the application by 12 July 2017.
On 5 July 2017 Mr van den Berg, a solicitor and industrial specialist acting for the applicant, filed a statutory declaration confirming that the Directions had been emailed to the applicant’s employees.
No submissions in opposition were filed.
Based on the material that is before the Commission, including the statutory declaration provided by the employer, the Commission is satisfied that the requirements of s.223 of the Act have been met.
In accordance with s.224 of the Act, the termination will come into effect today.
COMMISSIONER
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