DECISION

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

4 yearly review of modern awards—Award stage—Group 1
(AM2014/64 and others)

4 yearly review of modern awards – award stage – exposure drafts – technical and drafting issues – Group 1 – outstanding issue – cross-reference to consultation obligations – Poultry Processing Award 2010 – Meat Industry Award 2010 – Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award 2010.

[1] This decision deals with an outstanding technical and drafting issue arising from Group 1 Awards, which are being dealt with as part of the 4 yearly review of modern awards (the Review). The relevant awards are the Poultry Processing Award 2010 (the Poultry Award), the Meat Industry Award 2010 (the Meat Award) and the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award 2010 (the Manufacturing Award).

[2] In a decision issued on 12 September 2018 1 we proposed to amend clause 8.2(b) of the Poultry Award to include a reference to its consultative provisions. The background to the issue is set out at paragraphs [84] – [98] of that decision. It was proposed that clause 8.2(b) be amended by adding the following additional sentence at the end of the clause ‘Any change to regular rosters or ordinary hours of work is subject to the consultative provisions in clause 22.2.’

[3] We noted that the same issue arises in a small number of other exposure drafts in Group 1, which were listed at Attachment B to our decision. These awards are the Meat Award and the Manufacturing Award. We proposed to vary those awards in the same manner as our proposal in the Poultry Award, that is, to add a sentence to the relevant paragraph in each exposure draft in the following terms:

‘Any change to regular rosters or ordinary hours of work is subject to the consultative provisions in clause XX.X.’

[4] Interested parties were invited to file submissions in relation to our proposal by 4.00 pm on 25 September 2018. We noted that absent any objection to the course proposed we would vary the awards.

[5] The Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) filed a submission on 24 September 2018 2 noting that they do not oppose the amendments to the three awards in question. No comment from any other party was received.

[6] The exposure draft clauses for the three awards will be updated as outlined in the following table:

Exposure Draft	Group	Clause References
Manufacturing Award	1C	13.2(d); 13.3(c) and 13.5(a)
Meat Industry Award	1C	8.7(c) and 16.5
Poultry Award	1C	8.2(b)

[7] Revised exposure drafts will be published shortly.

PRESIDENT

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

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 1   [2018] FWCFB 5602

 2   Ai Group submission, 24 September 2018