T7126
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TASMANIAN INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION Industrial Relations Act 1984 The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union, Tasmanian Branch MEAT PROCESSING INDUSTRY AWARD
Award variation - wage rates - third Minimum Rate Adjustment - application granted - award varied - operative date ffpp 14 September 1997 REASONS FOR DECISION This application, lodged by The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union, Tasmanian Branch (the applicant), was for the purpose of varying the Meat Processing Industry Award to apply the third Minimum Rate Adjustment. The matter came before the Commission with the consent of the parties, as the amount of increase and the number of Minimum Rate Adjustments formed part of an agreed program established at the commencement of the Minimum Rate Adjustment process. I approve the increases sought by the applicant as they are consistent with the Wage Fixing Principles. The operative date was not agreed and therefore the Commission is required to determine this matter. OPERATIVE DATE Mr Swallow, for the applicant, in his submission, stated that the operative date of the third Minimum Rate Adjustment should be the first full pay period to commence on or after 1 July 1997 as this was in accordance with a previously foreshadowed agreement. This submission was opposed by Mr Flood for the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Limited, who was of the view that the operative date should be the first full pay period to commence on or after 14 September 1997 as this was the requirement of the Wage Fixing Principles. History On 23 April 1997 the Commission handed down a decision1 granting the first two (out of a total of four) Minimum Rate Adjustments. The parties foreshadowed the next two Minimum Rate Adjustments would be from 1 July 1997 and 1 January 1998. At page 2 of that decision the Commission stated:
On the 4 July 1997 a Full Bench of the Commission, in its decision arising out the State Wage Case, granted a $10.00 per week Safety Net Adjustment to the Meat Processing Industry Award along with all other private sector awards. This increase was operative from, no earlier than the first full pay period on or after 14 July 1997. The decision also adopted a new set of Wage Fixing Principles along the lines of the agreed tripartite position of the parties. Principle 7 of the new principles state:
This application, to vary the Meat Processing Industry Award, to reflect the third Minimum Rate Adjustment, was not lodged with the Commission until 25 July 1997. By that time the new Wage Fixing Principles were in operation. Mr Swallow was seeking a retrospective operative date, in fact, some 25 days before the application was even lodged with the Commission. Section 37(5) states:
In this matter there was certainly no agreement between the parties to the award, nor was it established that special circumstances existed that would make it fair and right to grant a retrospective operative date, especially given the fact that the Commission advised the parties, in its earlier decision2, of the requirement to seek future Minimum Rate Adjustments via separate applications. In addition and as there was no agreement between the parties over the operative date of this variation, in accordance with Principle 7.3 of the Wage Fixing Principles, I hereby determine the operative date to be the first full pay period to commence on or after 14 September 1997. The parties are, once again, reminded that the fourth and final Minimum Rate Adjustment to this award must be via a separate application made for that purpose. The Order giving effect to this decision is attached.
R J Watling Appearances: Date and place of hearing: |