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Tasmanian Industrial Commission

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T6677

 

TASMANIAN INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION

Industrial Relations Act 1984
s.29 application for hearing of industrial dispute

Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Limited
(on behalf of Blue Ribbon Meat Products Pty Ltd)
(T6677 of 1996)

and

The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union, Tasmanian Branch

 

PRESIDENT F D WESTWOOD

HOBART, 3 January 1997

Industrial dispute - threatened withdrawal of labour

REASONS FOR DECISION

This application submitted by the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Limited on behalf of Blue Ribbon Meat Products Pty Ltd in respect of Blue Ribbon Export Division, Smithton was for the Commission to order that employees at the plant not engage in any industrial action and that the employer and employees be ordered into conference to confer and negotiate an enterprise specific agreement.

The dispute was said to have arisen over a claim by labourers at the plant for a $100.00 per week pay rise as from 3 January 1997 and the threat to withdraw their labour as and from 6 January 1997 if that claim was not met.

The Wage Fixing Principles of this Commission set out the role of this Commission in enterprise bargaining.

The particular principle provides as follows:

      4.1 The Commission, on application by a party which could be by way of Section 29, will undertake a conciliation and/or facilitation role to assist the parties in reaching agreement.

    4.2 Section 61 of the Act (Private Arbitration) may be utilised by the parties where needed, to conclude an agreement.

    4.3 Failing agreement to private arbitration in accordance with Section 61, or should a party wish to pursue an enterprise award or variation to an existing award, the relevant provisions of the Act may be pursued.

    4.4 When approving an enterprise bargaining agreement which is to be reflected in a Section 55 agreement or enterprise award, the Commission will ensure that the Section 55 agreement or enterprise award, taken as a whole, will not disadvantage the employees concerned.

It was put to me by representatives of the employer and the union involved, The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union, Tasmanian Branch (The AMIEU), that a new award, which most likely will be by consent, covering the operations of employers such as Blue Ribbon, will be presented to the Commission at a hearing scheduled for 18 February 1997.

The employer has indicated its preparedness to negotiate with its employees for an enterprise specific agreement once it is aware of the content of the proposed new award which it hoped would form the base for such an agreement.

For the employees, the union's representative argued that his members needed and were entitled to higher pay rates given the high level of recent executive pay increases and the depressed rates of pay currently available to labourers in the meat industry.

It is important for the Company, for the employees, for the Smithton region and the State as a whole that the export division of Blue Ribbon Meat Products continues to operate efficiently and at a profit. It is also important that the employees of the company receive fair and just remuneration for their commitment to the company and their labour.

Having regard to the Wage Fixing Principles, the competing claims of the parties, in respect of which little or no negotiation has occurred as yet and the proximity of the proposed new award, I made the following recommendations to the parties which are now confirmed in this decision:

1. that the employees, with the assistance of The AMIEU, meet at the earliest opportunity to elect representatives to a single bargaining unit to cover all the operations at the Smithton plant of Blue Ribbon;

2. that the company appoint its representatives to that single bargaining unit;

3. that the bargaining unit meet for the first time no later than in the week commencing 13 January 1997;

4. that the employees defer any industrial action until at least the content of the new award is made known (and I now add) or until such time as negotiations over the enterprise bargaining are concluded; and;

5. the company enter into meaningful negotiations with its employees through the vehicle of the single bargaining unit.

This application will be listed for further hearing at the request of either party.

 

F D Westwood
PRESIDENT

Appearances:
Mr J Swallow for The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union, Tasmanian Branch
Mr A Cameron for the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Limited on behalf of Blue Ribbon Meat Products Pty Ltd

Date and Place of Hearing:
1997
January 2
Hobart