TASMANIAN INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION

Industrial Relations Act 1984
s23 application for an award or variation of an award

Tasmanian Trades and Labor Council
(T6173 of 1996)

GROUP TRAINING INDUSTRY AWARD

Making of new award - title - scope - definitions - consent matter - operative 31 May 1996

REASONS FOR DECISION

This application, lodged by Tasmanian Trades and Labor Council, pursuant to section 23 of the Act, was for the purpose of establishing a new award to be known as the Group Training Industry Award.

It was stated by the parties that this was a consent application and they proposed that the new award should have application to -

the industry of group training companies and incorporated associations engaged in the employment of apprentices and/or trainees and the contracting of those apprentices and/or trainees to work under the supervision of host trainer(s).

The evidence showed that four companies and one incorporated association were currently involved in, what was termed by the parties as, group training and between them, they employed 737 employees. It was agreed that an overwhelming majority of those employees could be classed as being award free.

Submissions in support of the new award by Mr Warwick, for the Tasmanian Trades and Labor Council, are summarised as follows:

• Group training companies -

(a) are not covered by the same awards as the various industries of the host trainers with whom group training companies make contracts.

(b) are not comprehended by the scope clause of any other award of the Tasmanian Industrial Commission. Thus the apprentices and/or trainees employed by group training companies are, in the main, award free.

• Regardless of the contractual relationships group training companies have with host trainers, the apprentices and trainees in question are directly employed by their respective group training company.

• Group training companies are a significant employer of apprentices and trainees in Tasmania.

• Apprentices and trainees are amongst the most vulnerable members of the labor force, often lacking knowledge of both their rights and obligations. An award of sort proposed would assist these persons in better understanding these matters.

• An award of the sort proposed would assist group training companies in being clear and certain about the employment status of the apprentices and trainees they employ and the rights and obligations they have in relation to them.

• It is a requirement of the terms of a training agreement established and registered under the Vocational Education and Training Act 1994 that the relevant industrial award under which a trainee or apprentice is to be employed must be specified in the agreement. This term of the said agreements cannot be met in circumstances where the apprentices and trainees are employed on an award free basis.

• It is an inherent feature of the Industrial Relations Act 1984 that the making of industrial awards is a positive function of the Tasmanian Industrial Commission, particularly when consideration is had to the requirement made of the Commission to take measures designed to prevent and settle industrial disputes (s. 20(1)(b)).

• The application is in the public interest.

In the main, Mr Edwards, for the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Limited, supported the submissions of Mr Warwick, however, he could not agree that apprentices and trainees were amongst the most vulnerable members of the labour force. He said there would be evidence to suggest that the opposite was true, in that their training arrangements were highly regulated.

Having considered the submissions of the parties I am satisfied that a new award, to be known as the Group Training Industry Award, should be made, and I decide accordingly.

I believe the public interest would be best served by employees in this industry being covered by an award of the Commission.

Evidence was put during the course of the hearing which showed that the employers in this industry employed 17.7% of the apprentices and trainees in Tasmania and there was every expectation that this would grow in the future.

In deciding to make this new award I have also noted the degree of consent between the parties and their desire to have wage rates and conditions of employment in this industry clearly identified in the form of an award of the Commission.

Having established this new award, it is now open to any registered organisation to seek an interest in the award in accordance with this provisions of the Industrial Relations Act 1984. After determining which organisations have an interest in the award, the Commission will continue to hear submissions in respect of wage rates and conditions of employment.

The Order giving effect to this decision is attached and will be operative on and from 31 May 1996.

R J Watling
COMMISSIONER

Appearances:
Mr R Warwick for the Tasmanian Trades and Labor Council
Mr A Kenny for the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia
Mr J Glisson intervening for The Australian Workers' Union, Tasmania Branch
Mr T J Edwards with Ms J Thomas for the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Limited and Mr J Kelleher, Mr R Stafford, Miss N Gayewski and Mr R Jones

Date and place of hearing:
1996
May 31
Hobart