WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION. Industrial Relations Act 1979. The City of Armadale and The Construction, Mining, Energy Timberyards, Sawmills and Woodworkers Union of Australia, Western Australian Branch. AG 39 of 1999. City of Armadale Building Employees Enterprise Bargaining Agreement 1998. COMMISSIONER S J KENNER. 13 September 1999. Order. HAVING heard Mr M Fitzgerald on behalf of the applicant and Mr G Giffard on behalf of the respondent and by consent the Commission, pursuant to the powers conferred on it under the Industrial Relations Act, 1979, hereby orders— THAT the City of Armadale Building Employees Certified Enterprise Bargaining Agreement 1998 as filed in the Commission on 12 March 1999 in the terms of the following schedule be and is hereby registered as an industrial agreement. (Sgd.) S.J. KENNER, [L.S.] Commissioner. CLAUSE 1—TITLE This Agreement shall be known as the City of Armadale Building Employees Certified Enterprise Bargaining Agreement 1998. CLAUSE 2—ARRANGEMENT CLAUSE 1 TITLE CLAUSE 2 ARRANGEMENT CLAUSE 3 PARTIES BOUND & OTHER DEFINI- TIONS CLAUSE 4 DATE & PERIOD OF OPERATION CLAUSE 5 SALARY SACRIFICE & SUPERANNUA- TION CLAUSE 6 HOURS CLAUSE 7 PUBLIC HOLIDAYS CLAUSE 8 ANNUAL STAND-DOWN CLAUSE 9 DRESS STANDARDS & SAFETY PROCEDURES CLAUSE 10 REDEPLOYMENT RETRAINING REDUN- DANCY & VOLUNTARY SEVERANCE CLAUSE 11 ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE CLAUSE 12 FAMILY LEAVE CLAUSE 13 LONG SERVICE LEAVE CLAUSE 14 STUDY LEAVE CLAUSE 15 DEFENCE FORCES RESERVE LEAVE CLAUSE 16 GRIEVANCE/DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESS CLAUSE 17 EMPLOYEEDEVELOPMENT CLAUSE 18 MERIT BASED BONUS SCHEME CLAUSE 19 SERVICE PAY CLAUSE 20 LOCAL AREA WORK AGREEMENT CLAUSE 21 ENTERPRISE BARGAINING PAYMENT RATE CLAUSE 22 MONITORING OF AGREEMENT CLAUSE 23 RESERVED MATTERS CLAUSE 24 CONTINUANCE CLAUSE 25 METHOD OF VARYING TERMINATING OR WITHDRAWING FROM AGREEMENT PRIOR TO EXPIRATION ATTACHMENT 1 ATTACHMENT 2 WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE 2743 79 W.A.I.G. CLAUSE 3—PARTIES BOUND & OTHER DEFINITIONS This Agreement will be binding on— A The City of Armadale (“the City”). B The Construction Mining and Energy, Timberyard Sawmills and Woodworkers Union of Australia (WA) (“the Union”); and C All persons employed by the City of Armadale who are members of or who are eligible to be members of the Union. D This Agreement applies to an estimated one em- ployee. APPLICATION— This Agreement shall apply and be binding upon the City of Armadale and all persons employed who are members of or who are eligible to be members of the Construction Mining and Energy, Timberyard, Sawmills and Woodworkers Union of Australia (WA) (“the Union”) whilst employed by the City of Armadale in relationship to the operational requirements of the Council pursuant to the Building Trades Award 1968. CLAUSE 4—DATE & PERIOD OF OPERATION This Agreement shall operate from 1 July 1998 and shall remain in operation for a period of twenty-four months. CLAUSE 5—SALARY SACRIFICE & SUPERANNUATION Employees may make provision for a proportion of their annual wage/salary to be contributed towards Superannuation. The salary sacrifice so made will nevertheless be consid- ered part of the employees’ wages and the Council will not be subject to prosecution for underpayment of wages sacrificed pursuant to this clause. Contributions may be made to the Local Government Su- perannuation Plan or any other relevant complying fund. CLAUSE 6—HOURS General Workplace A. Span of Ordinary Hours—6:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday to Friday (working days). The normal start time to be 7.00am. B. Ordinary Hours will be 76 per fortnight worked over nine days specifically 8.5 hours for eight sequential working days and 8 hours on the ninth day unless varied by a Local Area Work Agreement. C. The nine day fortnight must be taken in working crews (not as individual employees) subject to a roster set annually. Rostered days off will be staggered so that the whole workforce is not away on the same day. D. The rostered tenth day off may be changed by manage- ment to meet work requirements upon 24 hours notice being given. Accumulated RDO’s may be taken by mutual agreement, by— taking an alternative day at anytime or with annual leave; or payout at a rate appropriate to the day with the next pay or with annual leave. A limit of five days to be accrued which can be taken with Annual Leave subject to having enough hours for Clause F. E. The rostered day off is to normally be a Monday. F. To minimise the effect of non-productive time as a result of supplier shut down at Christmas three rostered days off (up to 4) will be accrued to be taken after the Boxing Day Holi- day. Flexible Lunch Period G. The standard time for the half hour lunch break will be 12:00pm. H. To facilitate better work effectiveness for any work team or part thereof the lunch break will be flexible to allow com- pletion of tasks already commenced, preparatory works, or modified start time. The break can be taken within the span 11.00am to 2.00pm. The length of the break remains at one continuous period of a half-hour. The work team’s Supervisor must be notified in advance of the variation to the standard lunch break. The special dietary needs of employees must be considered. I. Any deferment of the lunch break up to 2.00pm will be at ordinary rates of pay and Schedule B Clause 2(a) (vi) (B) re- quiring overtime to be paid will be waived. CLAUSE 7—PUBLIC HOLIDAYS Public Holidays will be as currently listed in the Local Gov- ernment Officers’ (Western Australia) Award 1988, except, in recognition of the improved hours clause, employees will trade the two “day in lieu” public holidays, being the day following New Years’ Day and Easter Tuesday, as part of their endeav- our to increase production and provide increased customer service. CLAUSE 8—ANNUAL STAND-DOWN Current practise of an annual stand-down for the month of January be discontinued so Council may enter into a continu- ous work cycle. This means that Council will have an opportunity to complete work in the driest months and to re- spond to the operational issues without calling staff back at overtime rates. Employees agree to a roster set annually for annual leave. The individual employee will be able to swap leave periods with others by mutual agreement provided at no time Council is left without experienced staff in any work team. In consultation with managers, employees will apply multi- skilling practices so that people will fill critical positions and gain experience in higher level jobs. Employees can take leave in no more than two periods in a year of no less than five days duration. CLAUSE 9—DRESS STANDARDS & SAFETY PROCEDURES Employees agree to wear the City of Armadale clothing pro- vided and utilise this, and safety equipment issued, in a proper and unmodified manner at all times. CLAUSE 10—REDEPLOYMENT RETRAINING REDUNDANCY & VOLUNTARY SEVERANCE Job Security It is the intent of all parties to this Agreement that existing employees participate in improving service delivery to the Community. To that aim some employees may no longer be required to undertake the duties Currently performed. There will be no forced redundancies during the life of this Agree- ment unless such redundancies are the outcome of market testing. Council will offer every reasonable avenue for any employee so affected to continue their employ in a productive manner. Alternate Work and Training The parties accept that affected employees will be offered— i) redeployment; and ii) retraining as necessary. Any employee offered redeployment or retraining opportu- nities will co-operate fully and avail him/herself of those opportunities. The above is subject to the person being medically fit to carry out the work offered. Medical fitness to be determined by a mutually agreed appropriately qualified medical practi- tioner. Redundancy Council highly values the contribution by its employees and will, wherever possible, ensure that their interests are protected. When a service currently performed by employees is to be market tested the following applies— • Tender specifications will be so designed to maxim- ise opportunities for the continued employment or re-deployment of Council employees. • In the event that a service is awarded to an exter- nal contractor and employees are not taken up by the successful bidder, then Council will make every endeavour to accommodate the employees in accordance with the Award provisions and any Enterprise Bargain which may be in force at the time. WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE 79 W.A.I.G. 2744 • Redundancies will be seen as a last resort but may be the only viable alternative in some circumstances. Council retains the right to consider redundancies in accordance with the provisions of the Local Gov- ernment Act 1995, where appropriate. If a service is to be awarded to an external bidder, the tender evaluation will take into account redundancy costs. The basis of costing will be to add to the successful tenderer’s bid the cost of such payment amortised over five years, unless the contract is for a shorter period, in which case over the length of the contract. In cases where the employee and Council agree to the re- dundancy, the following provisions will apply— Redundancy—with Council Redundancy—with no arranged job to go to with Council arranged job successful tenderer to go to Pay in lieu of notice 4 weeks 4 weeks Additional over 45 years 1 week 1 week 1-4 completed years service 8 weeks 2 weeks per year Over 5 completed years 2 weeks per year to 2 weeks per year to service 26 weeks max 52 weeks max, plus payout of 50% of accrued sick leave All leave entitlements to be in accordance with the Award and this Agreement and are paid in addition to the above. Voluntary Severance The parties recognise that if an employee is displaced from his/her current position then that person may be offered a vol- untary severance package. Where a person who has been displaced and offered an al- ternative position is pronounced medically unfit to perform the work offered and the “Alternate Work and Training” clause is not applicable, then the voluntary severance package will be offered in accordance with this clause. In cases where the employee and Council agree to the vol- untary severance, the following provisions will apply— • Four (4) weeks notice or pay in lieu of notice. • Employees over the age of 45 years will receive an extra 1 weeks pay. • Employees with 1 years service or more will receive 2 weeks pay for every completed year of service. • Total maximum severance payable is 52 weeks. • All leave entitlements to be in accordance with the Award and this Agreement and is paid in addition to the above. Salary Maintenance An employee who is deployed to an alternative position at a lower classification level shall have his/her pay level main- tained at its existing, level and shall retain entitlement to previous conditions of employment (Initial Conditions of Employment). That person’s salary and benefits are to be capped at the Initial Conditions of Employment until such time as the Award rate for that position exceeds the Initial Condi- tions of Employment. The employee will be provided with the opportunity to undertake appropriate training and development as determined by the Council. CLAUSE 11—ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE The National Competition Policy places serious demands on Council to openly adopt the concepts of economic reform as contained in the Hilmer Report. Employees are committed to— • embrace beneficial change through a broadening of their skill levels, as required, to accommodate the changing needs of the organisation; • the cost effective delivery of work and set-vices for the Community through a continuing review of work practices; • advancing ideas on productivity and service improve- ments and actively participate in research and trialing appropriate methods. • continuation of improvements adopted over the past five years (refer to Attachment 1). • developing service teams that will continue to pur- sue productivity improvements in their work areas. • developing highest level of customer services in rec- ognition of continuing a quality day labour workforce. Council is committed to— • Training employees to fulfil conditions arising from any changes. • Providing appropriate financial and other resources for employees to adequately achieve organisational changes. • Providing opportunities for staff to gain experience by acting in other positions where they hold adequate skills and/or demonstrate appropriate initiative. Monitoring of the chance processes will be by the ongoing Wages Employees Enterprise Agreement Monitoring Committee. Significant changes will not occur without consultation be- tween management and affected employees and three months minimum notice in writing will be given to affected employees. CLAUSE 12—FAMILY LEAVE a) Employees may utilise up to 38 hours of their accrued annual sick leave entitlement per year to care for a sick family member. b) For the purposes of this clause, a “sick family member” means a person who is related to the employee by blood, mar- riage, affinity or adoption and includes a person who is wholly or mainly dependent on, or is a member of the household of, the employee (as defined by Equal Opportunity Act (1984) of Western Australia). c) Leave granted under this clause is subject to the produc- tion of satisfactory evidence of illness of the other person in accordance with the Award. d) Unused entitlements to Family Leave granted pursuant to this clause shall not accumulate from year to year. Nothing in this clause shall prevent the unused sick leave entitlements accruing pursuant to the Building Trades Award 1978. CLAUSE 13—LONG SERVICE LEAVE a) Except as provided in sub-clause b) below, long service leave shall be provided in accordance with the Local Govern- ment (Long Service Leave) Regulations. b) In exceptional circumstances and at the employer’s dis- cretion, employees who are entitled to a pro-rata long service leave payment may take time off up to the limit of the entitle- ment. Examples of exceptional circumstances include special family leave and illness. c) Should the employee terminate and be employed by an- other local government in WA, such that the portability provisions of sub regulation 5(c) of the Regulations apply, any liability of the employer under the Regulations shall be re- duced by any long service leave granted and taken in accordance with subclause b). CLAUSE 14—STUDY LEAVE As per the Local Government Officers’ (Western Australia) Award 1988, included at Attachment 2. CLAUSE 15—DEFENCE FORCES RESERVE LEAVE As per Council Policy Nos. 1.1.5 and 1.1.6. 1.1.5 DEFENCE FORCES RESERVES 1. This organisation encourages enlistments in the Defence Forces Reserves. It recognises that Reserve service is of na- tional importance, is an economical method of providing defence forces in peace time, and can be a valuable addition to employee development within the Organisation. 2. Leave not exceeding two weeks in any one year will be granted to employees who are members of the Defence Forces Reserves for the purpose of under-going training in camp or equivalent continuous duty. This leave will normally be in addition to annual leave. 3. Special consideration will be given to an employee re- quiring leave for Reserve military training purposes in excess of ten working days in any one year. 4. Except in unusual circumstances, military leave granted under this policy will be treated as unbroken service when calculating annual leave, long service leave and sick leave or any other entitlements. WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE 2745 79 W.A.I.G. 5. Where applicable, but subject to the organisation’s policy, employees granted Reserve training leave under this policy will be required to make up any missed contributions to super- annuation pension schemes which fall due during their period of absence. 6. Personnel occupying quarters will pay normal rental dur- ing their absence. 7. This policy is to be made known through the organisation and announced in its publications and through other existing means of communication. 8. For the purposes of this policy, personnel involved in the Australian Cadet Corps be granted the same consideration as those in the Defence Forces Reserves. 1.1.6 DEFENCE FORCES RESERVES—LEVEL OF WAGES SALARIES Council agrees to meet the difference in pay between the employee’s ordinary wage and that paid by the Government occasioned by an employee who attends a Defence Forces Reserve annual camp. CLAUSE 16—GRIEVANCE/DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESS With regard to Equal Employment Opportunity, there will be no discrimination on Pregnancy, Marital Status, Political Conviction, Sex, Race, Religion, Age or Disability. (a) Subject to the provisions of the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (as amended) any grievance, complaint, claim or dispute or any matter which is likely to result in a dispute between a respondent employer and the Union or a respondent employer and his/her employees, shall be settled in accordance with the procedures set out herein. (b) Where the matter is raised by an employee, or a group of employees, the following steps shall be observed— (i) The employee(s) concerned shall discuss the matter with the immediate supervisor and manager. If the matter cannot be resolved at this level the manager shall, within 3 days, refer the matter to a more senior officer nominated by the employer and the employ- ees) shall be advised accordingly. (ii) The senior officer shall, if he/she is able, answer the matter raised within one week of it being referred to him/her and, if he/she is not so able, refer the matter to the Wages Employees Enterprise Agreement Moni- toring Committee, and thereafter, to the employer for its attention if necessary, and the employee(s) shall be advised accordingly. (iii) (1) If the matter has been referred in accordance with subparagraph (6) above the employee(s) or his/her shop steward shall notify the Union Secretary (W.A. Branch) or his/her nominee, so that he/she may have the opportunity of dis- cussing the matter with the employer. (2) The employer shall, as soon as practicable af- ter considering the matter before it, advise the employee(s) or, where necessary the Union of its decision, provided that such advice shall be given within 5 weeks of the matter being referred to the employer. (iv) Should the matter remain in dispute after the above processes have been exhausted either party may re- fer the matter to the