PR908896

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AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION

Workplace Relations Act 1996

s.204 application for consent to alteration

of eligibility rules of organisation

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union

(D No. 20003 of 1997)

VICE PRESIDENT McINTYRE

SYDNEY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2001

Eligibility for membership - application for consent to alteration of eligibility rules - employees of Comalco Australia Limited employed at Weipa - s.204

FURTHER DECISION

[1] On 13 June 2001 I gave a decision (PR904973) in this matter. It concluded:

[2] On 29 August 2001 I received a letter from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (the CFMEU) attaching an affidavit of Gregory Betts, Secretary of the Queensland District of the Mining and Energy Division of the CFMEU, stating that the trades persons at Comalco Weipa who had been enrolled by the CFMEU had resigned from the CFMEU. The letter requested that the matter be relisted in accordance with my decision of 13 June 2001.

[3] I relisted the matter on 10 September 2001. Mr S Crawshaw SC appeared for the CFMEU, Mr K Watson of counsel for Comalco Aluminium Limited and Mr G Beard for the The Australian Workers' Union. There was no dispute about the terms of the proposed rule set out in paragraph [72] of my earlier decision. Mr Watson, however, handed up a letter dated 6 September 2001 from his instructing solicitors, Freehills, to the CFMEU as follows:

[4] Mr Crawshaw disputed Mr Watson's contention that Messrs Strachan and Bouchardt would not be covered by the proposed rule set out in paragraph [72] of my 13 June 2001 decision.

[5] After hearing the parties and giving Mr Crawshaw and Mr Watson an opportunity to see if they could resolve the matter (which they could not), I reserved my decision.

[6] My decision is, firstly, to reject Mr Watson's submission that I should not consent to the proposed rule until I have determined whether Messrs Strachan and Bouchardt are eligible for membership of the CFMEU under the proposed rule and, if not, whether the CFMEU should be required to terminate their membership. There will always be issues as to whether persons do, or do not, come within the eligibility rules of an organisation. These issues can be resolved if and when the need arises.

[7] Secondly, I decide to consent to the alteration of the eligibility rules of the CFMEU by deleting rule 2(G) and inserting the following new rule 2(G):

[8] The alteration to which I have consented shall come into effect on 14 September 2001. As a result of this decision, the eligibility rules of the CFMEU, on and from that date until further altered, shall be as set out in Appendix "A" to this decision.

BY THE COMMISSION:

VICE PRESIDENT

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

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APPENDIX "A"

2 - CONSTITUTION

(A)(A)The Union shall consist of an unlimited number of persons whether male or female

(A)(b) Without limiting the generality of any other subrule or paragraph or being limited thereby the Union shall consist of an unlimited number of persons employed in or seeking to be employed in or in connexion with all or any of the industry and/or occupations and/or callings and/or vocations and/or industrial pursuits of the painting and decorating industry in connexion with buildings and structures, plant, machinery and equipment, fences and posts, (commercial, residential, industrial or otherwise), general and ship painting, including the following:

(B) Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, or being limited thereby the Union shall also consist of:-

(C) Without limiting the generality of the foregoing and without being limited thereby the:

(D) Without limiting the generality of the foregoing and without being limited thereby the Union shall also consist of an unlimited number of employees engaged in or in connection with the coal and shale industries together with such other persons whether employees in the industries or not as have been appointed officers and admitted as members.

(E) Without limiting the generality of the foregoing and without being limited thereby the Union shall consist of:-

(F) Without limiting the generality of any other subrule or paragraph or being limited thereby the Union also shall consist of an unlimited number of members who are employed in, or competent to be employed in or in connexion with the following industries or trades: Piano and piano-player makers and tuners, organ-makers, and makers of gramophones and all other musical instruments, cabinet-makers, wood-carvers, billiard table makers and fitters, clock-case makers, coffin-makers, 3-ply veneer workers, chair and couch makers, or other articles of sitting accomodation, sewing machines, upholsterers, carpet and linoleum planners and all floor covering layers, outdoor hands, measuring, fixing, soft furnishings, blind cutting, making, painting, fixing, french-polishers, enamellers, spraying machine operators, makers of wireless instrument cases or cabinets, woodturners, mantel-piece makers, overmantel-makers, mattress-makers, wire-weavers, picture-frame makers, bedding-makers, quiltmakers (including eiderdown), venetian and wire-blind makers, bamboo pith and cane and wicker workers, packers of crockery and furniture mantle-pieces, pictures, carpets, drapery, plate and sheet glass in warehouses, shops, factories or stores, glass bevellers, glass benders, glass worker (excepting those on spectacles, lenses or frames and

(G) Without limiting the generality of sub-rules (A), (B), (C), (D), (E) and (F) above, and without being limited thereby, the Union shall consist of employees other than managerial, supervisory, administrative, professional and clerical employees and trades persons employed by Comalco Aluminium Limited at its operations at Weipa in the State of Queensland.

(H) Without limiting the generality of sub-rules (A), (B), (C), (D) and (F) above and without being limited thereby, nothing in sub-rule "E" shall make eligible for membership of the union any person employed by Queensland Alumina Limited in its operations at Gladstone in the State of Queensland.

(I) Without limiting the generality of sub-rules (A), (B), (C), (D) and (F) above and without being limited thereby, nothing in sub-rule (E) above shall make eligible for membership of the Union any person employed by the following employers in metalliferous mining in Tasmania or South Australia:

(J) Without limiting the generality of Sub-Rules (A) to (F) herein or being limited thereby, independent contractors who, if they were employees performing work of the kind which they usually perform as independent contractors, would be eligible for membership of the Union, shall be eligible for membership of the Union.

(K) 1. For the purposes of this sub-rule:

(L) Employees of Thiess Services Pty Ltd employed as maintenance workers at South Eastern Water pursuant to the Australian Workers Union Construction and Maintenance Award 1989 and the Thiess Environmental Services Pty Ltd Victorian Maintenance and Construction Services Enterprise Agreement 1995-1997 shall not be eligible for membership.

(M) Persons employed or to be employed by Energy Developments Limited and/or its subsidiaries or related companies shall not be eligible for membership of the union pursuant to any rule of the union, and the union shall not have the right to represent under the Act the industrial interests of such persons.

(N) Without limiting the generality of the foregoing and without being limited thereby, the Union shall consist of an unlimited number of persons whether male or female throughout the Commonwealth who are employed or usually employed in the Brick, Tile and Pottery Industry and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, shall include persons employed or usually employed within the said industry in the manufacture of Abrasive wheels and stones (otherwise than at Australian Abrasives Pty. Ltd., Auburn and at Carborundum Pty. Ltd., Thomastown), Architectural terracotta facing materials, Building bricks of every description (including sand and lime bricks), Bristolware, Ceramics, Chinaware, Conduits and Insulators, Earthenware, Ceramic flooring tiles, Pottery and porcelain ware, Refractory materials, Roofing tiles and accessories including cement tiles only in the State of Western Australia, Stoneware pipes and sanitary fittings, Terracotta ware and wall tiles, together with such persons, whether engaged in the industry or not, who have been elected full time paid officers of the Clay and Ceramics Industry Divisional Branch pursuant to the relevant rules relating to the election of officers.

3 - DESCRIPTION OF INDUSTRY

(A) The employment of persons:

(B) And an unlimited number of persons employed or usually employed as workers, other than tradespersons, engaged in or in connection with any of the following work, occupations or callings:

(C) The industry of any person employed in any position on or in or in connection with:

(D) The Industry of paper-making, strawboard making, paper-bag making or the making of any similar commodity.

(E) And an unlimited number of persons employed or usually employed as workers engaged in or in connection with the Coal Mining industry.

(F) The group of industries comprised with in the calling, service, employment, occupation, or avocation of persons employed on land or any harbour, lake or river, as drivers of or attendants to any engine, winch, crane, mobile crane, fork lift, tow motor, pile driver, excavator, pump, boiler,

(G) The industry in or in connexion with which the Union is registered is the industry of the employment of persons employed or seeking to be employed in or in connexion with the industries and/or occupations and/or callings and/or vocations and/or industrial pursuits of the painting and decorating industry in connexion with buildings, and structures, plant, machinery and equipment, fences and posts (commercial, residential, industrial or otherwise), general and ship painting, including the following:-

(H) The furnishing and wood working industries, including coffin making and the industry of making musical instruments of which wood forms a part.

(I) Without limiting the generality of Sub-Rules (A) to (H) herein or being limited thereby, independent contractors who, if they were employees

(J) Without limiting the generality of the foregoing and without being limited thereby, the industry in connection with which this Union is formed is the Brick, Tile and Pottery Industry.