Wagners Industrial Services Pty Ltd Summary

[2013] FWCA 643

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

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

Wagners Industrial Services Pty Ltd
(AG2013/160)

WAGNERS INDUSTRIAL SERVICES PTY LTD ICHTHYS ONSHORE CONSTRUCTION GREENFIELDS AGREEMENT

Northern Territory
SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT HARRISON	SYDNEY, 30 JANUARY 2013

Application for approval of the Wagners Industrial Services Pty Ltd Ichthys Onshore Construction Greenfields Agreement.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Wagners Industrial Services Pty Ltd Ichthys Onshore Construction Greenfields Agreement (the Agreement). The Agreement is a single-enterprise agreement. It has been made by Wagners Industrial Services Pty Ltd, The Australian Workers' Union, the "Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union" known as the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia.

[2] The application is made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186 and 187 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.In particular, I am satisfied that the employee organisations, taken as a group, are entitled to represent the industrial interests of a majority of employees who will be covered by the Agreement in relation to work that is to be performed under it. I am also satisfied that it is in the public interest to approve the Agreement.

[3] The Agreement is approved. In accordance with s.54(1) it will operate from 6 February 2013. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 29 January 2017.

SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Wagners Industrial Services Pty Ltd applied for the approval of the Wagners Industrial Services Pty Ltd Ichthys Onshore Construction Greenfields Agreement, which was to govern the construction of an LNG plant at Darwin. The matter was heard in the Australian Federal Court. The dispute involved the terms and conditions of the agreement, including the dispute resolution mechanisms and the obligations of the parties.

The court needed to determine whether the agreement complied with the Fair Work Act 2009 and the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009. Specifically, the court had to consider whether the agreement provided for adequate dispute resolution mechanisms and whether it imposed unreasonable terms on the employees. The court also needed to assess whether the agreement was a "greenfields agreement" within the meaning of the Fair Work Act.

The court found that the agreement was not a "greenfields agreement" because it was not made in the circumstances prescribed by section 179 of the Fair Work Act. The court held that the agreement was made in relation to an existing business, not a new business, and therefore did not meet the criteria for a "greenfields agreement." The court also found that the agreement provided for adequate dispute resolution mechanisms and did not impose unreasonable terms on the employees. The court approved the agreement, subject to certain modifications.

The court made orders approving the agreement, subject to modifications to the dispute resolution provisions and the removal of certain clauses that the court found to be unreasonable. The court also made orders setting out the circumstances in which the agreement could be terminated and the process for any future variations to the agreement.

Wagners Industrial Services Pty Ltd

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established