AN160741 – Coal Mining Industry (Engineers) Award 1990
(1) (a) In the event of a reduction of hands by a company at any time, company seniority shall apply and the last employee employed in the particular classification shall be the first to be dismissed. Provided that, in respect of all employees engaged on or after 17 March 1967, district seniority shall apply as between all such employees and provided further that an employee engaged prior to that date, but subsequently retrenched, may claim district seniority as against an employee engaged on or after the aforesaid date.
(b) This provision shall not apply to any employee dismissed for gross misconduct or refusal to obey lawful orders, or for incapacity the proof of which if disputed shall lie upon the employer.
(c) If an employee has been shifted from one classification to another then the length of service for the purpose of determining seniority shall be deemed to date from the last time the employee signed on the with company concerned during the current period of employment.
(2) Vacancies shall be filled by retrenched employees on the basis of district seniority in each classification subject to suitability for the particular duties to be carried out.
(3) Should the management and the Union be unable to arrive at a mutual agreement with regard to the operation of this clause the subject of the disagreement may be referred for settlement forthwith to the Western Australian Coal Industry Tribunal.
(4) When an apprentice completes an apprenticeship in the coal mining industry and continues in employment as a tradesperson in the industry, the seniority in the classification to which the employee was apprenticed on the last day of the apprenticeship shall date from the commencement of the first year as an apprentice.
The seniority of first year apprentices as then serving in the industry shall date from 22 July 1965.
(5) In the event of an employee leaving a mine to become a full-time union official, the employee shall retain company seniority in the classification in which the employee was employed; provided also that if the company ceases business, then the employee shall retain district seniority in the employee's classification as from the date of engagement in the industry.
