Pastoral
Employees (State) Award
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Review of Award pursuant to Section 19 of the Industrial
Relations Act 1996.
(No. IRC 1624 of 2007)
|
Before Commissioner
Macdonald
|
30 May 2008
|
REVIEWED
AWARD
1. Insert in
numerical order in clause 1, Arrangement of the award published 26 October 2001
(328 I.G. 1188), the following new clause number and subject matter:
49A. Secure
Employment
2. Insert after
clause 49, Contract of Employment, the following new clause 49A.
49A. Secure
Employment
(a) Objective of
this Clause
The objective of this clause is for the employer to
take all reasonable steps to provide its employees who are employed as Station
Hands with secure employment by maximising the number of permanent positions in
the employer's workforce, in particular by ensuring that casual employees have
an opportunity to elect to become full-time or part-time employees.
(b) Application
This clause shall only have application to employees who
are employed as Station Hands under Section II of this Award. To avoid doubt,
this clause does not give any other employee a right to elect to have his or
her contract of employment converted to full-time or part-time employment of
any kind. Additionally, this clause does not impose any obligations of any kind
upon an employer in relation to employees who are employed under Section I of
this Award.
(c) Casual
Conversion
(i) A casual
employee engaged by a particular employer on a regular and systematic basis for
a sequence of periods of employment under this Award during a calendar period
of twelve months shall thereafter have the right to elect to have his or her
ongoing contract of employment converted to permanent full-time employment or
part-time employment if the employment is to continue beyond the conversion
process prescribed by this subclause.
(ii) Every employer
of such a casual employee shall give the employee notice in writing of the
provisions of this sub-clause within four weeks of the employee having attained
such period of twelve months. However, the employee retains his or her right of
election under this subclause if the employer fails to comply with this notice
requirement.
(iii) Any casual
employee who has a right to elect under paragraph (c)(i), upon receiving notice
under paragraph (c)(ii) or after the expiry of the time for giving such notice,
may give four weeks' notice in writing to the employer that he or she seeks to
elect to convert his or her ongoing contract of employment to full-time or
part-time employment, and within four weeks of receiving such notice from the
employee, the employer shall consent to or refuse the election, but shall not
unreasonably so refuse. Where an employer refuses an election to convert, the
reasons for doing so shall be fully stated and discussed with the employee
concerned, and a genuine attempt shall be made to reach agreement. Any dispute
about a refusal of an election to convert an ongoing contract of employment
shall be dealt with as far as practicable and with expedition through the
disputes settlement procedure.
(iv) Any casual
employee who does not, within four weeks of receiving written notice from the
employer, elect to convert his or her ongoing contract of employment to
full-time employment or part-time employment will be deemed to have elected
against any such conversion.
(v) Once a casual
employee has elected to become and been converted to a full-time employee or a
part-time employee, the employee may only revert to casual employment by written
agreement with the employer.
(vi) If a casual
employee has elected to have his or her contract of employment converted to
full-time or part-time employment in accordance with paragraph (c)(iii), the
employer and employee shall, in accordance with this paragraph, and subject to
paragraph (c)(iii), discuss and agree upon:
(1) whether the
employee will convert to full-time or part-time employment; and
(2) if it is agreed
that the employee will become a part-time employee, the number of hours and the
pattern of hours that will be worked either consistent with any other part-time
employment provisions of this award or pursuant to a part time work agreement
made under Chapter 2, Part 5 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW);
Provided that an employee who has worked on a full-time
basis throughout the period of casual employment has the right to elect to
convert his or her contract of employment to full-time employment and an
employee who has worked on a part-time basis during the period of casual employment
has the right to elect to convert his or her contract of employment to
part-time employment, on the basis of the same number of hours and times of
work as previously worked, unless other arrangements are agreed between the
employer and the employee.
(vii) Following an
agreement being reached pursuant to paragraph (vi), the employee shall convert
to full-time or part-time employment. If there is any dispute about the
arrangements to apply to an employee converting from casual employment to
full-time or part-time employment, it shall be dealt with as far as practicable
and with expedition through the disputes settlement procedure.
(viii) An employee
must not be engaged and re-engaged, dismissed or replaced in order to avoid any
obligation under this subclause.
(d) Occupational
Health and Safety
(i) For the
purposes of this subclause, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) A "labour
hire business" is a business (whether an organisation, business
enterprise, company, partnership, co-operative, sole trader, family trust or
unit trust, corporation and/or person) which has as its business function, or
one of its business functions, to supply staff employed or engaged by it to
another employer for the purpose of such staff performing work or services for
that other employer.
(2) A "contract
business" is a business (whether an organisation, business enterprise,
company, partnership, co-operative, sole trader, family trust or unit trust,
corporation and/or person) which is contracted by another employer to provide a
specified service or services or to produce a specific outcome or result for
that other employer which might otherwise have been carried out by that other
employer's own employees.
(ii) Any employer
which engages a labour hire business and/or a contract business to perform work
wholly or partially on the employer's premises shall do the following (either
directly, or through the agency of the labour hire or contract business):
(1) consult with
employees of the labour hire business and/or contract business, who are engaged
as Station Hands regarding the workplace occupational health and safety
consultative arrangements;
(2) provide
employees of the labour hire business and/or contract business who are engaged
as Station Hands with appropriate occupational health and safety induction
training including the appropriate training required for such employees to
perform their jobs safely;
(3) provide
employees of the labour hire business and/or contract business who are engaged
as Station Hands with appropriate personal protective equipment and/or clothing
and all safe work method statements that they would otherwise supply to their
own employees; and
(4) ensure employees
of the labour hire business and/or contract business who are employed as Station
Hands are made aware of any risks identified in the workplace and the
procedures to control those risks.
(iii) Nothing in
this subclause (d) is intended to affect or detract from any obligation or
responsibility upon a labour hire business arising under the Occupational
Health and Safety Act 2000 or the Workplace Injury Management and
Workers Compensation Act 1998.
(e) Disputes
Regarding the Application of this Clause
Where a dispute arises as to the application or
implementation of this clause, the matter shall be dealt with pursuant to the
disputes settlement procedure of this award.
(f) This clause has
no application in respect of organisations which are properly registered as Group
Training Organisations under the Apprenticeship and Traineeship Act 2001
(or equivalent interstate legislation) and are deemed by the relevant State
Training Authority to comply with the national standards for Group Training
Organisations established by the ANTA Ministerial Council.
3. Delete clause
76 Area, Incidence and Duration, and insert in lieu thereof the following:
76. Area, Incidence
and Duration
This award is made following a review under section 19 of
the Industrial Relations Act 1996 and replaces the Pastoral Employees
(State) Award published 26 October 2001 (328 I.G. 1188) and all variations
thereof.
The award published 26 October 2001 took effect on and from
the first full pay period commencing on or after 27 July 2001.
The award shall apply to all employees classified herein
within the jurisdiction of the Pastoral Employees (State) Industrial Committee
except:
(i) employees of
the Crown;
(ii) jackeroos;
(iii) managers,
overseers, engine drivers at shearing sheds, hutkeepers, bookkeepers, domestic
cooks (as defined);
(iv) bona fide
students of a recognised university or college who work as station hands during
the course of their studies to gain experience in the industry.
Provided that this award shall apply to students
engaged as shed hands or generally useful hands for shearing or crutching operations.
This award shall not apply to shearing demonstrations
or shearing schools, provided that such demonstrations or schools are conducted
on a non-profit making basis.
This award shall also apply to employees classified
herein within the jurisdiction of the Strappers, Grooms and Stablehands (State)
Industrial Committee.
The changes made to the award pursuant to the Award
Review under section 19(6) of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 and
Principle 26 of the Principles for Review of Awards made by the Industrial
Relations Commission of the New South Wales on 28 April 1999 (310 I.G. 359)
take effect on 30 May 2008.
This award remains in force until varied or rescinded,
the period for which it was made already having expired.
A.
MACDONALD, Commissioner
____________________
Printed by
the authority of the Industrial Registrar.