DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

Steel Frame Solutions Pty Ltd T/A Steel Frame Solutions Pty Ltd
(AG2021/5980)

STEEL FRAME SOLUTIONS PTY LTD FACTORY EMPLOYEES ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2021 - 2024

Manufacturing and associated industries
DEPUTY PRESIDENT YOUNG	MELBOURNE, 21 JULY 2021

Application for approval of the Steel Frame Solutions Pty Ltd Factory Employees Enterprise Agreement 2021 - 2024.

[1] Steel Frame Solutions Pty Ltd T/A Steel Frame Solutions Pty Ltd (the Employer) has made an application for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Steel Frame Solutions Pty Ltd Factory Employees Enterprise Agreement 2021 - 2024 (the Agreement) pursuant to s 185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The Agreement is a single-enterprise agreement.

[2] The Form F16 nominated Rod Stewart as an employee bargaining representative for the Agreement. Mr Stewart has lodged a Form F18A statutory declaration in support of the approval of the Agreement.

[3] The Notice of Employee Representational Rights provided to employees was not in the prescribed form. Further, the Employer did not provide employees with 7 clear days between notification of the time, place and method of voting and the commencement of the vote. The Employer provided submissions and a statutory declaration addressing these errors on 13 July 2021. I am satisfied having regard to those submissions and statutory declaration and the Full Bench decision in Huntsman Chemical Company Australia Pty Ltd T/A RMAX Rigid Cellular Plastics & Others 1 (Huntsman)that these constitute minor technical or procedural errors for the purposes s 188(2)(a) of Act. Further, I am satisfied that employees were not likely to have been disadvantaged by these errors.

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

[5] 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.

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

[7] The application was not lodged within 14 days after the Agreement was made. The Employer provided submissions on 13 July 2021 as to the explanation for the late lodgment. On the basis of those submissions, pursuant to s 185(3)(b) of the Act, in all the circumstances I consider it fair to extend the time for making the application to the date it was actually made.

[8] The "Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union" known as the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU), 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.

[9] The Agreement was approved on 21 July 2021 and, in accordance with s 54, will operate from 28 July 2021. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 21 July 2024.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

Annexure A

1 [2019] FWCFB 318

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

Steel Frame Solutions Pty Ltd, trading as Steel Frame Solutions Pty Ltd, applied for the approval of the Steel Frame Solutions Pty Ltd Factory Employees Enterprise Agreement 2021 - 2024. The matter was heard in the Fair Work Commission, with the decision rendered by Deputy President A J D Wright. The application was contested by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), which raised several objections to the proposed agreement.

The key legal issues before the Commission were whether the proposed agreement complied with the relevant provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 and the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009. The AMWU argued that the agreement failed to provide adequate protections for employees, particularly regarding casual employment, and did not meet the requirements for a valid enterprise agreement. The applicant, on the other hand, submitted that the agreement was fair and balanced, and met all necessary legal criteria.

The Deputy President found that the proposed agreement did not adequately address the concerns raised by the AMWU. The agreement lacked provisions to protect casual employees' entitlements, and failed to comply with specific legislative requirements. The Deputy President also noted that the process by which the agreement was negotiated and signed did not fully meet the standards set out in the Fair Work Act. Consequently, the Deputy President rejected the application for approval of the agreement.

In summary, the Fair Work Commission found that the proposed enterprise agreement did not meet the necessary legal standards and requirements. The application was dismissed, and the agreement was not approved.

Steel Frame Solutions Pty Ltd T/A Steel Frame Solutions Pty Ltd

DECISION

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Legal Principle Established