Valley Services Pty Ltd t/a Latrobe Valley Bus Lines

[2020] FWCA 1374

[2020] FWCA 1374

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

Valley Services Pty Ltd t/a Latrobe Valley Bus Lines
(AG2020/457)

LATROBE VALLEY BUS LINES DRIVERS ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2018

Passenger vehicle transport (non rail) industry
DEPUTY PRESIDENT COLMAN	MELBOURNE, 13 MARCH 2020

Application for approval of the Latrobe Valley Bus Lines Drivers Enterprise Agreement 2018.

[1] Valley Services Pty Ltd t/a Latrobe Valley Bus Lines has made an application for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Latrobe Valley Bus Lines Drivers Enterprise Agreement 2018 (the Agreement) pursuant to s 185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] The application is generally in order, however I note that the Notice of Employee Representational Rights (NERR) issued to employees was not in the prescribed form as it appeared on company letterhead and contained certain non-prescribed content, being the telephone number for the Fair Work Ombudsman’s ‘Infoline’ as well as the names of an ‘employer contact person’ and the delegates from the Transport Workers’ Union of Australia (TWU), which was a bargaining representative for the Agreement. In all the circumstances, and having regard to the decision of the Full Bench in Huntsman Chemical Company Australia Pty Limited T/A RMAX Rigid Cellular Plastics & Others, 1I am satisfied that this constitutes a minor procedural or technical error for the purposes of s188(2)(a). Further, I am satisfied that the employees covered by the agreement were not likely to have been disadvantaged by the error. As a result, I am satisfied that the Agreement has been genuinely agreed within the meaning of s 188(2) of the Act.

[3] On the basis of the material contained in the application and accompanying statutory declaration, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss 186, 187 and 188 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

[4] The TWU, 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) and based on the statutory declaration provided by the organisation, I note that the Agreement covers the organisation.

[5] The Agreement was approved on 13 March 2020 and, in accordance with s 54, will operate from 20 March 2020. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 1 December 2021.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

 1   [2019] FWCFB 318

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