Stramit Corporation Pty Ltd T/A Stramit Building Products

[2019] FWCA 7468

[2019] FWCA 7468

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185 - Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement

Stramit Corporation Pty Ltd T/A Stramit Building Products
(AG2019/2696)

STRAMIT BUILDING PRODUCTS REGIONAL QLD & NT BRANCH ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2019

Manufacturing and associated industries
DEPUTY PRESIDENT LAKE	BRISBANE, 29 OCTOBER 2019

Application for approval of the Stramit Building Products Regional QLD & NT Branch Enterprise Agreement 2019.

[1] An application has been made under s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act) for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Stramit Building Products Regional QLD & NT Branch Enterprise Agreement 2019 (the Agreement). It has been made by Stramit Corporation Pty Ltd T/A Stramit Building Products (the Employer). It is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] On 9 October 2019, I held a telephone conference with respect to the approval of the Agreement. Present at this conference was Mr Michael Yanko (Mr Yanko), People and Performance Business Partner at the Employer, and Mr Emanuel (Manny) D’Anna (Mr D’Anna), the Employee Bargaining Representative for the Mackay-based workers who would be covered by the Agreement.

[3] Prior to and at the telephone conference, Mr D’Anna pressed objections to the Agreement being approved (on behalf of the Mackay-based workers of the Employer), on the basis that the Mackay-based workers of the Employer covered under the Agreement did not agree to the Agreement being approved.

[4] According to a letter dated 8 August 2019, Mr D’Anna advised the Fair Work Commission that the Mackay-based workers objected to the approval of the Agreement on the following basis:

“On July 25th Stramit submitted the s185 application EA 2019 for approval to the Commission which was not accepted by the Mackay employees and we wish to contest the application.

I believe that all of the employee representatives that attended the negotiations acted in good faith and worked together to complete the body of the agreement to combine both QLD & NT regional branches. However the Mackay employees feel that they were let down by Stramit who were limited on negotiations with the pay increases and didn’t really take into account the points put forward at the EA meetings by myself and also at a further meeting at Mackay with all of the site employees.

The company’s stance is, quote “there is only so much money in the bucket”. This meant that some branches will receive more than 12% increases over the term of the agreement but the Mackay and Darwin branches will only receive 1.5% for the same term.

Points put forward to Stramit were:

Cost of living being one of the higher than other regional cities

The government 3% increase to the minimum wage will see the Mackay wages getting closer to the minimum wage by the end of the agreement in April 2022

Rental prices are going up due to the increase of mining activity, rental availability is down to 1.2% in Mackay

Greater employment opportunities creating a transient workforce which will cost the company more of rehiring and training new staff as they come and go

The last pay increase for the Mackay branch was in January 2018 and the next proposed increase will be in April 2020, so there is no increase for a period of 2 years and 4 months”

[5] I advised Mr D’Anna at the conference that whilst I was sympathetic to him and the Mackay-based workers of the Employer regarding the issues that they had raised, these are not matters that I am required to consider at the approval stage of the Agreement. They are matters for bargaining.

[6] I asked if Mr D’Anna intended to press submissions relevant to whether the agreement could satisfy the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT), or if the Agreement was genuinely agreed to, or if he could identify any other procedural failings of the Employer during bargaining, voting or lodgment that I am required to consider pursuant to the Act. Mr D’Anna advised that there were no BOOT issues, just that the Agreement was unfair to the Mackay-based workers.

[7] I advised Mr D’Anna that this would be a matter for bargaining on the next occasion, and if he did not have submissions on the BOOT then I was satisfied, with undertakings, that the BOOT issue was not something that made the Agreement incapable of approval.

[8] On genuine agreement, Mr D’Anna expressed some frustration with how the Employer had conducted itself during bargaining, including stating that the Employer had left it until later in the bargaining process to communicate the pay rates of the Mackay-based workers as opposed to the rates in other locations. However, on this point, I am satisfied that the Mackay-based workers were aware of, and explained, the terms of the Agreement and their effect, being that their pay increases were not as bountiful as other regions, and duly voted en bloc against the approval of the Agreement when it came to voting on it. The Mackay-based workers were nevertheless outvoted.

[9] In any event, on genuine agreement, I was satisfied with the thorough explanatory process that the Employer made, including having Mr Yanko personally fly to Mackay, as he did to other parts of Australia, to explain the Agreement and its effect in detail to, and answer questions from, all of the relevant employees of the Employer.

[10] No other failings in procedural steps were otherwise identified by Mr D’Anna or me that made the Agreement incapable of approval.

[11] The Employer has provided written undertakings which are annexed to the Agreement. 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.

[12] Subject to the undertakings referred to above, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186, 187, 188 and 190 of the Act as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

[13] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance s.54 of the Act, will operate from 5 November 2019. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 31 July 2022.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

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ANNEXURE A – UNDERTAKINGS