Terminating An Enterprise Bargaining Agreement

In all cases reviewed, including Wollongong Coal, it appears that every employer wishing to terminate an agreement with its workforce must overcome three significant barriers. First, they must show that this is a very serious financial dispute. Second, they must demonstrate that the seniority conditions contained in the agreement are profoundly prejudicial to their attempt to act on the grounds of difficulty. Last but not most importantly, they must show that they have made every effort to negotiate a productive outcome with their workers and representatives. The Fair Labour Commission can adopt a definition of employment that imposes conditions on the workers for whom it applies. In addition, the Fair Labour Commission can make a serious declaration of violation in the event of a serious and persistent violation of a negotiating settlement that has significantly undermined the negotiations. If things are not resolved after 21 days, the Fair Work Commission can make a decision in the workplace. The full bank agreed with Aurizon. It found that it was wrong to address the construction of Section 226 as proposed in Tahmoor Coal, leading to a imposition against the termination of an enterprise agreement that has exceeded its nominal expiry date. Full Bench stated that there was no legal imperative for the promotion and provision of productivity benefits at the enterprise level to be obtained primarily or exclusively through the negotiation of good faith enterprises and not by other means.

The enterprise agreements contained very generous provisions, which were a legacy of a time when the company was owned by the state and were essentially “public” conditions (for example. B no forced dismissal). These provisions were too complex and presented unjustified and costly restrictions on the efficiency and productivity of Aurizon`s business. The Fair Labour Committee has the power to denounce the following types of national system agreements: 1. A successful request for termination can be made, despite the ongoing negotiations, but successful requests have come after lengthy negotiations, including in most examples, an unsuccessful use of the FWC for assistance in negotiations. For the most part, the cessation application is generally positioned as a means of redressing a deadlock. A redundancy request is not an employer`s first point of contact when faced with difficult negotiations. It is also probably a significant investment of time and resources. The Murdoch University case included a 10-day hearing with ample evidence, including opinions from economists and other analysts. An IFA can be terminated either by a written agreement between the employer and the worker, or by the employer or worker by written notification. Modern rewards require 13 weeks` notice, but this may be different in an enterprise contract (but no more than 28 days). However, an enterprise agreement also has several potential drawbacks: according to Full Bench, the FWC would have provided a procedure for hearing and finding the application and, if it deemed it desirable, to hold simultaneous conciliation conferences to help the parties conclude a new undertaking.

Negotiators are required to act in good faith in the process of negotiating a proposed enterprise agreement. The problem is that the circumstances of negotiating an enterprise agreement can change quickly. When companies, or even entire industries, face difficult economic conditions, as is currently the case in the mining sector, where declining global demand leads to a sharp decline in production and profits, concepts that seemed advantageous in one phase can suddenly become unattractive to the employer. Since the Fair Work Act 2009 provides that enterprise agreements continue to exist after their nominal expiry date, unless they are replaced or terminated, the parties may remain bound by legacy conditions established 5 or 10 years ago (or more) in a totally different economic climate.