KLM ENTERPRISE
(STATE) AWARD 1996
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Application by Electrical Trades Union of Australia, New
South Wales Branch, industrial organisation of employees.
(No. IRC 5753 of 1996)
Before The Honourable
Mr Justice Cahill, Vice-President
|
21 November 1996
|
AWARD
1. Title
This Award shall be known as the KLM Enterprise (State)
Award 1996.
2. Parties and
Persons Bound
This Award shall be binding upon:
(i) KLM Electrical
Contracting (NSW) Pty Ltd.
(ii) Electrical
Trades Union of Australia, New South Wales Branch.
(iii) All
employees, whether members of the Union or not, engaged pursuant to the Parent
Award.
3. Definitions
For the purpose of this Award:
"Award" means this Enterprise Award.
"Parent Award" means the Electrical
Contracting Industry (State) Award.
"NESS" means the NSW Electrical
Superannuation Scheme (No. 1).
"Company" means KLM Electrical Contracting
(NSW) Pty Ltd.
"Construction Work" means work undertaken by
the Company, contracting to a builder or construction manager for construction
work in connection with the erection, or demolition of buildings or structures.
"Employee" means an employee of the Company
performing work within the scope of this Award.
"MERT" means the Mechanical and Electrical
Redundancy Trust.
"Union" means the Electrical Trades Union of
Australia, New South Wales Branch.
4. Objectives
The parties to this Award are committed to the following
shared objectives:
To ensure customer satisfaction in the provision of
services.
Increasing the competitiveness, productivity,
efficiency and flexibility of the Company and its workforce.
Creating a Co-Operative, Safe and Productive
Environment on the Company's Projects.
Continuing the development of more flexible, efficient
and adaptable management and work practices.
Establishing and developing better and more effective
communication and consultation between the Company and employees.
To foster a commitment to the Company's Quality
Assurance System.
Improving job security and the working environment.
To provide for the use of the full range of skills and
knowledge held by employees.
To implement a training skills enhancement program consistent
with the provisions of the Parent Award and this Award for all employees.
To substantially reduce and eventually eliminate lost
time.
5. Duration of Award
This Award shall commence from the first full pay period to
commence on or after 21 November 1996 and remain in force thereafter until 31
December 1997.
This Award can be terminated at or after the end of its
nominal term by any one of the parties giving at least 3 month's written notice
of intention to terminate to each other party.
The notice may be served before the end of the nominal term. Where such written notice is given, the
parties hereby agree that they shall make an application to the Industrial
Relations Commission of New South Wales for his Award to be rescinded with the
mutual consent of all the parties.
6. Commitments
The parties to this Award are committed to ensuring that:
(i) The measures
contained in this Award lead to real gains in productivity.
(ii) The dispute
settlement procedures contained in the Parent Award is rigorously applied and
enforced.
7. No Extra Claims
The parties listed in Clause 2 above agree that they will
not pursue any extra claims either Award or Over-Award for the life of this
Award.
8. Contract of
Employment
(a) All new employees
(other than casuals) will be engaged on the basis of a three (3) month
probationary period. The Company
reserves the right to terminate a probationary employee at any time during this
three (3) month period subject to a week's notice or payment in lieu thereof.
(b) It is a term
and condition of employment and of the obligations and rights accruing under
this Award that an employee:
(i) properly use
and maintain all appropriate protective clothing and equipment provided by the
Company for specified circumstances;
and
(ii) use any
technology and perform any duties which are within the limits of the employee's
skill, competence and training; and
(iii) understand
that termination of employment will be based on job requirements and skills and
that the principle of "last on - first off" will not apply. It is the needs and requirements of the
Company, together with the employment record, skills and abilities of the
employee which will be the determining factors regarding the retrenchment of
employees. However, where employment
record, skills and abilities are equal, then seniority shall take
precedence; and
(iv) maintain
commitment to and comply with the Company's directions (consistent with the
objectives of the Award) with respect to safety, quality, site cleanliness and
waste management; and
(v) be committed
to the objectives in Clause 4 of this Award.
(c) The Company's
right to employ persons on a specified task and/or specified period basis is
acknowledged.
9. Relationship of
Parent Award
This Award is to be interpreted wholly in conjunction with
and is complementary to the Electrical Contracting Industry (State) Award
provided that:
Where the Award is silent on rates of pay, conditions,
allowances and other matters pertaining to the employment relationship, the
Parent Award shall apply.
Where there is conflict between the rates of pay,
conditions, allowances and other matters prescribed in this Award and the
Parent Award, then this Award shall apply.
10. Disputes Settling
Procedure
General Disputes Resolution Procedure
The parties acknowledge the need to achieve increased
flexibility and productivity.
The parties shall aim to reduce the incident of lost time
through the elimination of restrictive practices, close consultation and co-operation
with those directly affected and through the effective operation of dispute
prevention and settlement procedures.
The parties to this Award shall observe the procedure under Clause 31,
Dispute Settlement Procedure, of the Electrical Contracting Industry (State)
Award.
11. Not to be used as
a Precedent
This Award shall not be used in any manner whatsoever to
obtain similar arrangements or benefits in any other plant or enterprise other
than KLM Electrical Contracting (NSW) Pty Ltd.
12. Consultative
Mechanism
The parties agree that a precondition for the effective
operation of the Award is the establishment of agreed consultative mechanisms
within the Company. To this end, a
consultative committee comprising of equal numbers of Company appointed
representatives shall be established and maintained. The purpose of the consultative committee shall be to develop,
recommend and assist to implement strategies and measures designed to achieve
the objectives outlined under Clause 4 of this Award.
13. Flexibility of
Work Hours
(a) It is
recognised by the parties that an inefficiency exists with work not commencing
or finishing at the official starting and finishing times. In endeavour to overcome this inefficiency,
it is agreed that employees will be dressed and equipped ready to work at the
official starting and finishing times.
Employees shall be at the site sheds (or agreed location) ready to
commence work at the work start time.
Wash up time at the end of the working day shall occur after work finish
time.
(b) The parties
agree that the current working arrangements for hours of work provisions
(including, but not limited to, the daily maximum ordinary hours, work cycles
and the taking of meal breaks and rest periods) may be altered during the life
of this Award following consultation between the Company and affected site
personnel to meet project and/or shift work operational requirements. The criteria that will be used in assessing
the desirability of proposed changes to hours of work will include the impact
on efficiency, operational and project requirements, productivity, quality and
quality of life.
The parameters for ordinary hours for the purpose of
the Award shall be an average of 38 hours per week and shall be between 6.00am
and 6.00pm on any or all of the days, Monday to Friday. The ordinary hours of work shall be worked
continuously except for meal breaks (which are to be agreed in accordance with
the proceeding paragraph). Different
methods of implementation of the hours of work may be applied to various groups
or sections of employees by agreement.
An employee's weekly ordinary hours of work can consist
of both day and shift work, provided that the appropriate shift allowance is
paid for any shift work.
(c) Staggering
starting and finishing times may be introduced by the Company employees at the
site to help overcome any problems or potential delays. As a consequence, breaks taken during the
course of the day shall also be staggered.
(d) Shift Work - The
above Hours of Work provisions will also apply to Shift Work, as defined by the
Parent Award.
(e) RDO's may be
banked to a maximum of 5. Banked RDO's
shall be taken at a mutually convenient time.
The Company will maintain a record of employees RDO bank status.
(f) Overtime, if
required, can be worked on an RDO weekend.
14. Superannuation
Superannuation contributes shall be made on behalf of
employees to NESS. The contribution
shall be $40.00 (forty dollars) per week for employees excepting apprentices. The provisions of the Superannuation
Guarantee Charge shall apply to apprentices.
15. Redundancy
The Company agrees to pay into MERT the sum of $40.00 (forty
dollars) per week for each employee covered by this Award (excluding
Apprentices) engaged on construction work.
The redundancy provisions of the Parent Award shall apply for all other
employees.
All employees recognise that payments made by the Company
into MERT are to use to offset the Parent Award provisions, should they be made
redundant.
If a person is made redundant, it will be the ex-employee's
responsibility to obtain any benefit from the MERT fund. The Company will provide the necessary
statement to facilitate this.
Redundancy will not apply to persons employed for a specific
period of time or for a specified task or tasks or for casual employees. Time served as an Apprentice will not be
included in the determination of continuous employment, but the probationary
period for all other permanent employees will count as continuous employment.
16. Wet Weather
Procedure
In the event of wet weather, work in the open will continue
until the particular work in hand can no longer be done safely and efficiently.
Whilst it is raining, employees will be required to:
Continue to work under cover or relocate to alternative
work under cover, on site or on another site.
Obtain materials and services for men working under the
cover where there is only minimal exposure to inclement weather.
When required, perform emergency and safety work. In addition, work on unexpected breakdowns,
which can be corrected in a limited time duration.
The Employer shall provide personal wet weather clothing as
necessary. Such clothing will remain
the property of the Company and it is the employee's responsibility to take
reasonable care of the clothing and return it.
Should a portion of the project be affected by wet weather,
all other employees not so affected shall continue working in accordance with
Award conditions, regardless that some employees may be entitled to cease work
due to wet weather.
It is agreed by the parties that prior to any employee
leaving the site due to inclement weather, consultation shall take place
between the affected employees and the Company.
17. Transfer of
Labour
If a halt to productive work occurs which is not the fault
or the responsibility of the Company, the parties agree that labour can be
relocated to other unaffected areas to continue productive work or other sites
if work is available.
18. Electronic Funds
Transfer
The parties agree that all employees will be paid by
Electronic Funds Transfer.
19. Skills
Development
Skills development is an integral part of the aims of all
parties to this Award. It will assist
employees to develop their personal level of skills and provide them with the
opportunity to generate their own career path within the industry.
The parties agree to collectively develop a Skills
Development Programme to accommodate the above opportunity. The vehicle for the process will be the
consultative committee.
20. Wages
(a) Upon
commencement of this Award, the hourly all purpose wage rate for employees will
be 5 per cent higher than the Parent Award all purpose hourly wage rate as of 1
May 1996.
(b) Twelve months after
the commencement of this Award, the hourly all purpose wage rate for all
employees will be 10 per cent higher than the Parent Award all purpose hourly
wage rate as of 1 May 1996.
(c) Those wage
increases will be in lieu of any other increases granted by the Industrial
Relations Commission of New South Wales during the term of this Award.
(d) Expense
related allowances and disability allowances (except as varied by Clause 21)
will be paid in accordance with the Parent Award and varied as the Parent Award
is varied.
21. Productivity
Allowance
A productivity allowance shall be made of $1.00 per hour
worked for construction work only. This
allowance shall be in lieu of all Parent Award disability allowances and
multi-storey allowances.
Site/Project/Productivity Allowances. In addition to the wage rates payable under
this Enterprise Bargaining Award will be only paid where such allowance is
either:
(a) awarded by the
Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales; or
(b) Contractually
required to be paid at the time of tender.
Where the Company is required to pay such
Site/Project/Productivity allowances then the Productivity allowance under this
Award shall be absorbed into such Site/Project/Productivity allowance.
22. Top-Up / 24 Hour
Accident Cover
The Company will also provide workers compensation
"top-up" and 24 hours accident insurance for every employee covered
by this Award.
J. J. CAHILL J, Vice-President.
____________________
Printed by the
authority of the Industrial Registrar.