Many agreements fail to pass the stringent approval processes required by the Fair Work Act because a term falls foul of the National Employment Standards (NES). In most cases the totality of the agreement’s benefits far outweigh whatever NES issue is diminished. No great harm is likely. But the inflexibility of the legislation leaves the […]
A security company has been given short shrift by the Fair Work Commission with its attempt to gain approval of a streamlined agreement which wrapped up penalties and various allowances into a composite rate. Despite some pay rates being nearly 50% higher than their award counterparts, and the employer’s willingness to give comprehensive undertakings, the […]
Inattention has caught out an employer who had assumed a key employment term had been ‘rolled over’ from an expired agreement into the new agreement. And despite evidence that the old agreement contained the missing terms, the Fair Work Commission was unmoved. The trouble started when the employer re-drafted the agreement from a PDF format […]
Two cases decided within a week of each other highlight how important drafting of enterprise agreements is. Both cases involved argument about what the agreement clauses meant, and in both, the employer lost out, having to pay for lax drafting. The first involved an argument about Latin. The agreement used the term “i.e.” which of […]
When a large mining operator made a new agreement with a small number of employees, it focussed almost entirely on explaining to them the differences between the new deal and the existing agreement. So much so that in answer to the crucial question about the proposed agreement, “Are there any terms less beneficial to the […]
Once again the fine print around agreement-making has caused angst for an employer and employees because of a technicality in the approval process. And the Commissioner who had to deliver the bad news, expressed regret that she couldn’t waive the minor irregularity and approve the deal. The Fair Work Act, coupled with its regulations, requires […]
The High Court has given the green light to an enterprise agreement even though the employees had not actually started at a new work site, after the company appealed a full federal court decision disallowing the agreement. The orthodox way to establish an agreement before opening the doors to trade, is to do an agreement […]
When an employer found out that a union member had revoked his union’s right to be his bargaining representative, it assumed the union could have no further role in the process. But that turned out to be wrong, with a full bench of the FWC saying the union still had a right to be heard. […]
Ross Clarke has more than a decade’s experience in the enterprise bargaining room.
The knowledge and skill he has acquired in this time has enabled him to develop a highly sophisticated planning and process model for successful enterprise bargaining. This proven methodology delivers results across all industries including distribution, hospitality, banking, retail, manufacturing, telecommunications and gaming.
“Ross’s knowledge of industrial relations and his ability to understand how and when to communicate internally with government; and with the media were instrumental in guiding the Association’s successful response to the campaign.”
Patrick Griffin OAM, Australian Hotels Association
Mobile: 0419 401 702
Email ross@workrelations.com.au
L3, 97 Pacific Hwy
North Sydney
Australia