The Australian Workers' Union v Construction Sciences Staff Pty Ltd T/A Construction Sciences

The Australian Workers' Union applied to the Fair Work Commission for a majority support determination in relation to a proposed enterprise agreement. The application was made under section 173 of the Fair Work Act 2009. Construction Sciences Staff Pty Ltd, trading as Construction Sciences, opposed the application. The Commission was required to determine whether the union had sufficient support from the employees in the relevant bargaining unit to warrant certification of the proposed agreement.

The legal issue before the Commission was whether the union could demonstrate that it had the support of a majority of the relevant employees. The union submitted that it had obtained signed authorisation forms from 53% of the employees, which was above the required threshold of 40%. Construction Sciences argued that several of the authorisation forms were invalid due to procedural errors and that the union had not met the majority support requirement.

The Commission found that the union had not provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate that it had obtained the requisite majority support from the employees. Several of the authorisation forms were deemed invalid due to procedural errors, and the Commission concluded that the union had not met the majority support requirement. The application for a majority support determination was dismissed.

The Fair Work Commission dismissed the application for a majority support determination. The Commission found that the union had not provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate that it had obtained the requisite majority support from the employees. The proposed enterprise agreement was not certified.