Employer groups begin appeals against Fair Work Australia decisions

The first of three appeals against a range of Fair Work Australia decisions has been started by the Australian Industry Group, with employers protesting that the rulings have given a disproportionate amount of power to unions.

The first is being directed by AIG in the ADJ Contracting case, which is arguing that a work agreement brokered by the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union is actually unlawful.

AIG is directly appealing the decision of a FWA member to approve the agreement, which it says will actually lead to breaches of the Competition and Consumer Act.

“The clauses deal with restrictions on contractors, right of entry and encouragement of union membership,” AIG chief executive Heather Ridout said earlier this week.

The specific disputes with the contract relate to restrictions placed on employers when engaging with contractors, and also expand entry rights for union members. There are also concerns over whether employers would need to encourage employees to join unions.

Ridout reportedly said yesterday outside the hearing that the contract must be changed. “Far from saving jobs, preventing Australian companies from maintaining a flexible and product labour force destroys jobs and competitiveness,” she said.

The Electrical Trades Union has objected to the appeal.

Meanwhile, the Australian Mines and Metals Association is now looking to appeal the Fair Work decision in the JJ Richards case, which allowed a particular union to take industrial action even though it had not gained a majority of support within the actual workplace.

The JJ Richards case, which was decided by the full bench of FWA late last year, saw the company argue that the Transport Workers Union could not take industrial action because a protected ballot order could not be started until bargaining was underway.

But FWA said that the TWU was trying to reach an agreement, and therefore did not actually need to start bargaining with the company before a decision was made on industrial action. At the time the decision was criticised by employer groups, including the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The AMMA was contacted this morning by SmartCompany, but no reply was received prior to publication.

Elsewhere the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union is also appealing against a decision by a Fair Work official that would have provided the union with more right to entry powers.