DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.156—4 yearly review of modern awards

4 yearly review of modern awards – Wool Storage, Sampling and Testing Award 2010 and Salt Industry Award 2010
(AM2019/17)

4 yearly review of modern awards – finalisation of Exposure Draft and variation determination – Tranche 1 – Wool Storage, Sampling and Testing Award 2010 – Salt Industry Award 2010.

[1] This Full Bench has been constituted to oversee the process for finalising the exposure drafts produced during the 4 yearly review of modern awards (the Review) and the consequent variation of each modern award. For that purpose, the modern awards were divided into 3 Tranches. In a decision published on 2 September 2019 (the September 2019 decision) 1, we outlined the process for finalising the exposure drafts and consequent variations of each award.

[2] This decision deals with the finalisation of the variation determinations for the Wool Storage, Sampling and Testing Award 2010 (the Wool Award) and the Salt Industry Award 2010 (the Salt Award).

[3] The Wool Award and the Salt Award were Tranche 1 awards for the purpose of the finalisation of the exposure draft process. Variation determinations for the Wool Award and Salt Award were not finalised in line with other Tranche 1 awards as they were identified as awards in which the casual overtime rates were contested. 2 Conferences were convened on 26 November 2019 to discuss how to proceed3 and background papers4 were published on 25 November 2019 in order to facilitate discussion at the conferences.

[4] Following the conferences, a Report was issued on 29 November 2019 outlining that the parties jointly proposed a course of action in respect of the finalisation of the exposure drafts and related variation determinations in respect of the two awards. The report referred two issues to the Full Bench dealing with the issue of overtime for casuals (AM2017/51) and outlined that the Commission would defer issuing determinations to vary the Salt Award and the Wool Award to reflect the relevant exposure drafts until the Full Bench in AM2017/51 had determined the aforementioned issues.

[5] On 30 October 2020 the Full Bench in AM2017/51 issued determinations 5 varying the Salt Award and the Wool Award in accordance with its decisions on 18 August 2020 and 30 October 2020.6 These amendments have been incorporated into the final variation determinations for the Wool Award and the Salt Award, which we will publish with this decision.

[6] Award specific amendments confirmed in the October 2019 decision 7 have also been inserted and a number of minor errors and drafting amendments have been made to the final variation determinations for the Wool8 and Salt9 Awards.

[7] A number of other amendments resulting from Full Bench matters have been made to the final variation determinations as follows:

•  Wages and expense-related allowances have been updated in line with the adjustment provided for in the 2019-2020 Annual Wage Review decision; 10

•  The annualised wage arrangements clauses have been substituted by determinations issued by the Full Bench in AM2016/13; 11

•  The schedules relating to part-day public holidays have been updated following determinations issued by the Full Bench in AM2019/21 and AM2019/22; 12 and

•  Schedule X—Additional Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic has been inserted and any changes resulting from the subsequent variation to Schedule X have been incorporated. 13

Next steps

[8] There are no other outstanding technical and drafting matters in relation to the Wool Award or the Salt Award. In our September 2019 decision, we expressed the provisional view that the variation of the modern awards in Tranche 1 in accordance with the draft variation determinations set out at Attachment D of that decision (which included the Wool Award and the Salt Award) is necessary to achieve the modern awards objective. In reaching that conclusion we adopted the reasons set out in the decisions at Attachment C to the September 2019 decision insofar as they are relevant to the Wool and Salt Awards and, in particular, to the considerations in ss.134(1)(a) to (h), which are addressed in each of those decisions. Subject to the amendments we have detailed in this decision, we confirm our provisional view.

[9] Final variation determinations will be issued with this decision in the terms previously published, subject to the amendments necessary to give effect to the matters canvassed in this decision. The variation determinations will commence operation on 21 December 2020.

[10] Interested parties will have until 4.00 pm on Thursday 3 December 2020 to file an objection to any of the amendments outlined in this decision. All objections must be sent electronically to amod@fwc.gov.au and chambers.ross.j@fwc.gov.au. This process is intended to provide an opportunity to correct any errors, it is not an opportunity to relitigate the issues which have already been determined.

PRESIDENT

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

<PR724649>

 1   [2019] FWCFB 6077

 2   Ibid at [2019].

 3   Transcript—Wool Award; Transcript—Salt Award, 26 November 2019.

 4   Background paper—Wool Award; Background paper—Salt Award

 5   PR723965; PR723993; [2020] FWCFB 5636

 6   PR723993; [2020] FWCFB 4350; [2020] FWCFB 5636

 7   See [2019] FWCFB 7173 at [24], [166] – [179] and [195] – [2014]

 8   The title of the award has been changed from the ‘Wool Storage, Sampling and Testing Award 20XX’ to the ‘Wool Storage, Sampling and Testing Award 2020’; the award title has been inserted into the header of all pages; the words ‘Exposure Draft’ have been deleted from the header on page 2; a hyperlink has been removed from ’59 to 131’ in the definition of NES at clause 2; typographical errors have been corrected at clauses 6.1 and 30.5; the words ‘in clause 4.2’ have been changed to ‘herein’; the reference to ‘clause 10.2’ in clause 11.5(k)(ii) has been changed to ‘clause 10.3’; the reference to ‘Schedule A—Classifications has been changed to ‘Schedule A—Classification and Progression Principles’; the reference to ‘clause 8—Types of employment’ in clause 13.1(b) has been changed to ‘clauses 10—Part-time employees and 11—Casual employees’; the words ‘—Ordinary hours of work’ have been inserted after ‘Clause 13’ at clause 13.5(b); the hyperlink has been removed from the words ‘section 63’ at clause 13.5(c); the blue text box appearing underneath the table has been deleted and a note has been inserted at clause 16.1; Clause 16.2(a), has been renumbered as ’16.2’; all references to ‘Miscellaneous Award 2010’ have been changed to ‘Miscellaneous Award 2020’ in clause 16.5; , the blue text box appearing underneath the table has been deleted and a note has been inserted at clause 21.1; clause 29.5(h) has been renumbered as 29.6; Clause B.1.1(a) has been renumbered as B.1.2 and subsequent provisions have been renumbered accordingly.

 9   The title of the award has been changed from ‘Salt Industry Award 20XX’ to ‘Salt Industry Award 2020’; typographical errors have been corrected at clauses 11.4(q) and 11.4(r), 20.3,23.7(a), 23.8(d), 23.9(c) and B.1.1; a hyperlink has been removed from ’59 to 131’ in the definition of NES at clause 2; the cross reference in clause 13.1(b) to ‘clause 8—types of employment’ has been changed to refer to ‘clauses 10—Part-time employees and 11—Casual employees; a hyperlink has been removed from ‘section 63’ in clause 13.1(c); the table at clause 16.2 has been reformatted by reinserting the footnotes that were contained in the body of the table to below the table; the word ‘this’ has been deleted from clause 19.1; the word ‘clause’ has been inserted before the cross reference to clause 23.8(a) in clause 23.8(c); the history note has been removed from clause 28; a footnote has been inserted next to ‘% of ordinary hourly rate’ in the second row of the table in clause B.1.3; the word ‘allowance’ has been inserted into clauses C.1.1 and C.2 to ensure consistency with drafting; all references to ‘Miscellaneous Award 2010’ have been changed to ‘Miscellaneous Award 2020’

 10   [2020] FWCFB 3500 at [178]; PR718862; PR719015

 11   [2019] FWCFB 4368; [2019] FWCFB 8583; PR716609; PR716606

 12   [2019] FWCFB 8491; PR715177; PR715161

 13   [2020] FWCFB 1837; [2020] FWCFB 5137