TASMANIAN INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION

Industrial Relations Act 1984
s.23 application for an award or variation of an award

Australian Workers' Union, Tasmania Branch
(T8584 of 1999)

SILVICULTURE AND AFFORESTATION AWARD

Award - making of new award - Silviculture and Afforestation Award - Title and Scope determined - operative 12.11.99

REASONS FOR DECISION

This application was lodged by the Australian Workers' Union, Tasmania Branch (AWU) pursuant to section 23 of the Industrial Relations Act 1984, for the making of a new award, to be known as the Silviculture and Afforestation Award. The scope of the proposed new award was to be as follows:

"This award is established in respect to private employees in the industry of silviculture and afforestation. For the purpose of this subclause `silviculture and afforestation' means the planting, pruning, fertilising and any other activities in or in connection with the establishment or cultivation of trees in forests."

When the matter came before the Commission on 26 October 1999, Mr Flanagan for the AWU submitted that there was need for an award to regulate the rates of pay and conditions of employment for employees engaged in silviculture and afforestation who are not presently regulated by instruments of either the federal or state industrial tribunals. He said that as a result of the Regional Forests Agreement which had been reached between the "parties within the industry and both the state and federal governments" there was a "significant amount of activity" in the industry and consequently a "significant amount of unregulated employment".

Concern was expressed by the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Employers Association (TFGA) and the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Limited (TCCI) in relation to the proposed scope, given the scope of existing awards of the Commission, in particular the Farming and Fruit Growing Award, the Plant Nurseries Award and the Civil Construction and Maintenance Award.

Mr Flanagan submitted that it was not the intention of the applicant to seek to regulate the employment of employees engaged in seed farming and/or silviculture where such work is performed in conjunction with the activities specified in the Scope clause of the Farming and Fruit Growing Award; nor was it proposed that the new award should cover work covered by the scope clauses of the Civil Construction and Maintenance Award or the Plant Nurseries Award. He submitted that it would not be appropriate to vary an existing award which regulated employment in another industry to cover people who are working in the silviculture and afforestation area. To accommodate the concerns of the employer organisations, Mr Flanagan explained that it was proposed to amend the proposed scope clause of the new award to exclude persons covered by the awards mentioned above.

In the circumstances Mr Flanagan sought and was granted leave to amend the application. He tendered a new draft order1, which was in the following terms:

"1. TITLE

This award shall be known as the Silviculture and Afforestation Award.

2. SCOPE

This award is established in respect to private employees in the industry of silviculture and afforestation. For the purpose of this clause "silviculture and afforestation" means the planting, pruning, fertilising and any other activities in or in connection with the establishment or cultivation of trees in forests, unless otherwise covered by the Farming and Fruit Growing Award, Plant Nurseries Award or Civil Construction and Maintenance Award."

Mr O'Neill for the TCCI, and Mr Rice for the TFGA, consented to the application as amended.

I have considered the submissions of the parties, and for the reasons submitted and recorded in this decision I approve what is now a consent application to make the Silviculture and Afforestation Award in terms of the Title and Scope clauses submitted. The award will be operative from 12 November 1999. The order is attached.

Registered organisations may seek an interest in the new award pursuant to section 65A, and subsequently make application for the insertion of further provisions.

F D Westwood
PRESIDENT

Appearances:
Mr R Flanagan for the Australian Workers' Union, Tasmania Branch
Mr K Rice for the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Employers Association
Mr D Dilger (26.10.99) and Mr J O'Neill (12.11.99) for the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Limited

Date and place of hearing: