T5142
TASMANIAN INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION Industrial Relations Act 1984 Australian Education Union, CLERICAL EMPLOYEES AWARD
Award interest - membership in related award not proven - interest refused REASONS FOR DECISION This matter concerns a reference pursuant to Section 65A(2) of the Industrial Relations Act 1984, as amended, in which the Australian Education Union, Tasmanian Branch (AEU) sought an interest in the Clerical Employees Award. The Act provides in 65A that, inter alia:
Consistent with the requirements of 65A(4) of the Act a hearing was held on 8 August 1994 and the State Public Services Federation Tasmania (SPSF) which has a registered interest in the Clerical Employees Award and the AEU requested an adjournment to enable them to enter into private discussion and negotiation with a view to resolving the question of award interest to their mutual satisfaction. As a consequence an adjournment was granted. When the hearing resumed on 4 May 1995 it was reported that despite attempts by the parties to resolve the issue the granting of an interest to the AEU in the Clerical Employees Award was opposed by the SPSF. The Commission was therefore called upon to hear argument and take evidence to determine whether or not a case could be established for the granting of interest in accordance with the requirements of the Act, and more specifically Section 63(10)(c) which provides as follows:
The requirement of the Act is clearly that the Commission must be satisfied on all three of the criteria specified in 63(10)(c) before granting award interest to a registered organisation which has made application to the Registrar in this regard. It follows that the onus of satisfying the Commission is on the applicant and if any one of the mandatory criteria is not proven to the Commission's satisfaction then the application for interest must fail. The case presented to the Commission in relation to 63(10)(c) relied principally upon:
The AEU case in this regard relied upon signed statements which were dated in June 1993, i.e. before the AEU gained registration with this Commission. I am of the view that in such a vitally important and often contentious issue as union membership the Commission is entitled to the best evidence available and I would regard the starting point to be the production for inspection of completed and signed membership cards as the best evidence of persons having joined the organisation. This then would need to be supported by proper proof of current financial status of members whose cards were produced. Even if I were to accept the statements produced at face value, which I do not, they were signed by persons who said they were members of another organisation, i.e. the Tasmanian TAFE Staff Society, an organisation whose registration was cancelled by the Registrar of the Tasmanian Industrial Commission on 19 October 1993 in matter TR457 of 1993 and was effective from 14 October 1993. I was shown nothing which would prove that the persons who regarded themselves as members of the Tasmanian TAFE Staff Society in 1993 could now properly be regarded as members of the AEU by virtue of its rules after that organisation gained registration with the Commission on 14 October 1993. The statutory declaration provided (Exhibit E4) may reflect the views genuinely held by its author that the names on the attachment to it was a list of TAFE Division members of the Australian Education Union, Tasmanian Branch extracted on 2 May 1995 because a computer told him so, but the list may represent a number of different things, such as simply a list of persons making payments to an organisation even though they are not legally members. Having found that the applicant in this matter has not adequately satisfied the requirements of Section 63(10)(c)(i) of the Act at this time interest in the Clerical Employees Award is refused, and I so decide.
A. Robinson Appearances: Date and Place of Hearing: |