ENDEAVOR MINE AWARD 2004
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Application by The
Australian Workers' Union, New South Wales, industrial organisation of
employees.
(No. IRC 4369 of 2003)
Before Mr Deputy President
Grayson
|
18 June 2004
|
AWARD
1. Title
This Award
shall be known as the Endeavor Mine
Award 2004.
2. Arrangement
Clause No. Subject Matter
1. Title
2. Arrangement
3. Application and Parties Bound
4. Duration
5. Probationary Employment
6. Performance and Flexibility
7. Stand Down
8. Abandonment of Employment
9. Termination of Employment
10. Hours of Work
11. Classification and Wage Rates
12. Additional Hours
13. Casual Employment
14. Payment of Wages
15. Superannuation
16. Public Holidays
17. Annual Leave
18. Sick Leave
19. Bereavement Leave
20. Jury Service Leave
21. Long Service Leave
22. Parental Leave
23. Safe to Work
24. Work Clothing and Footwear
25. Site Security
26. Health and Hygiene
27. Workers Compensation 28. Redundancy
29. Anti-Discrimination
30. Union Membership
31. Extra Claims
32. Grievance Resolution Procedure
3. Application and Parties Bound
(a) This Award shall apply to and be binding
upon any employer of employees who are principally working at the Endeavor Mine
in classifications covered by this Award.
and:
(b) The Australian Workers Union, New South
Wales Branch, and employees eligible to be members of the Union who are
principally working at the Endeavor Mine.
(c) This Award rescinds and replaces the
Elura Mine Enterprise (Consent) Award 2001 published 30 May 2003 (339 I.G.
718).
4. Duration
(a) This Award shall take effect from the
first full pay period on or after 1 July 2004 and shall remain in force for a
period of 2 years.
(b) Negotiations for the subsequent renewal
of this Award shall commence six months prior to the expiration of this Award.
5. Probationary Employment
(a) Employees will initially be engaged by
their employer on a probationary basis for a period of no longer than 12 weeks.
The probationary period will permit employees to be inducted, undergo initial
training and familiarisation and for the employer to assess employees
suitability for on-going employment.
(b) During this probationary period either
party may terminate employment by giving one day's notice.
(c) During the probationary period an
employee's service will count for the purposes of accruing entitlements and
benefits under this Award.
6. Performance and Flexibility
(a) The expectation that an employer has of
all employees is that they will:
strive
to meet the production schedules and quality targets of the employer;
actively
co-operate to establish and maintain a safe and healthy work environment;
suggest
improvements and apply efficient work practices to constantly achieve high
quality performance;
actively
participate to create an effective, highly productive and successful team;
maintain
and promote an open and communicative work environment.
(b) Employees will be required to work to
the best of their ability and will perform such work as reasonably required by
the employer within the bounds of safety, training and competence.
(c) The employer will require employees to
be flexible with respect to work practices and work patterns including:
(i) acquiring and applying knowledge and
skills to operate and/or maintain the plant, equipment and undertake work tasks
proficiently;
(ii) undertaking work and duties as directed
by the employer and consistent with (i) above;
(iii) working
in a shift roster system as determined appropriate for the operation;
(d) Employees will comply with any Endeavor
Mine or employer policies and procedures which are established from time to
time to ensure that safe, efficient and cost-effective operations are achieved.
These policies include OH&S, environmental management, security, personnel
and general administration.
7. Stand Down
In circumstances
where the employer is required to temporarily cease part or all of the
operations the employer has the right to stand employees down without payment.
Such stand-down will only occur after employees have been made fully aware of
the employer's situation and there is no appropriate alternative work available
for employees.
8. Abandonment of Employment
In the
event that an employee is absent for-more than three consecutive working days without
notifying the employer, the employer will assume that the employee has
abandoned employment and terminate employment effective from the last day of
work attended.
9. Termination of Employment
(a) Employment may be terminated by either
the employer or the employee giving notice in accordance with the following
scale:
|
Period of Notice
|
Employees Period of Continuous
|
45 years of age and under
|
Over 45 years of age
|
Service with Employer
|
|
|
|
|
|
Not more
than 1 year
|
1 week
|
1 week
|
|
|
|
More than
1 year but not more than 2 years
|
2 weeks
|
2 weeks
|
|
|
|
More than
2 years but not more than 3 years
|
2 weeks
|
3 weeks
|
|
|
|
More than
3 years but not more than 5 years
|
3 weeks
|
4 weeks
|
|
|
|
More than
5 years
|
4 weeks
|
5 weeks
|
(b) The employer may make payment in lieu of
providing notice and an employee may forfeit the value of wages the employee
would have otherwise earnt if the employee fails to work the full period of notice.
(c) Notwithstanding the period of notice
detailed above, the employer will have the right to dismiss an employee without
notice for conduct that justifies summary dismissal and in such cases wages
will be paid up to the time of dismissal only.
10. Hours of Work
(a)
(i) Employees will be required to work in a roster system
that is established by the employer to meet the production and maintenance
requirements of the Endeavor Mine. Such
roster systems shall be in accordance with the NSW Mines Inspection Act or as
approved by the Chief Inspector of Mines.
(ii) No later than the 1st October 2004 any
employees permanently employed at the Endeavor Mine in underground production
and maintenance activities shall be rostered to work 4 on/4 off rosters which
average 42 roster hours per week.
(b) In Relation to Shift Commencement and
Shift Finishing Times the Employer Shall Provide Transport to and from Cobar
and the Endeavor Mine So as to Provide that:
(i) employees will be changed and ready to
commence work at the designated shift commencement time.
(ii) there is a requirement for continuous
shift employees to be "on the job" to facilitate an effective shift
changeover at least 15 minutes prior to the shift commencement time.
(iii) employees will remain on the job until
the designated shift finishing time unless otherwise approved by the
Supervisor.
(iv) employees will shower and change
following the completion of the rostered shift.
(c) In each shift employees will be entitled
to meal breaks which will be counted as time worked as follows:
(i) in a rostered shift that is in excess
of 10 hours duration there will be a 50 minute crib break. The Supervisor and
the employees may agree that the crib break be taken in two separate breaks
which total 50 minutes provided there is not any additional lost production
time.
(ii) in a rostered shift of 10 hours or less
duration there will be a 30 minute break.
(iii) the crib breaks in each shift will be
taken in designated crib rooms and taken at such time as will not interfere
with continuity of work and will be staggered within a crew to enable
continuity of work or production.
(d) employees may be required to transfer
from one roster system to another or from one shift to another and in such
cases employees shall be given as much notice as practicable of such transfer
or change.
(e) employees may swap shifts subject to the
prior approval of the employees' supervisors.
11. Classification and Wage Rates
(a) The hourly wage rates that will be paid
to an employee under this Award are as follows:
|
Base Rate
|
Roster Rate
|
Tradesman
|
|
|
|
Surface
|
16.50
|
27.65
|
|
Underground
|
16.50
|
29.65
|
Concentrator
|
|
|
|
Shift Operator Grade 3
|
12.50
|
22.65
|
|
Shift Operator Grade 2
|
14.10
|
25.65
|
|
Shift Operator Grade 1
|
15.20
|
27.65
|
|
Daycrew
|
12.50
|
18.25
|
Mine Production
|
|
|
|
Nipper
|
14.10
|
23.65
|
|
Mine Services
|
14.70
|
24.65
|
|
Crusher
|
14.70
|
24.65
|
|
Truck Driver
|
15.50
|
25.65
|
|
Production Bogger
|
15.50
|
25.65
|
|
Grader Operator
|
15.50
|
25.65
|
|
Road Train
|
15.50
|
25.65
|
|
Mining/Ground Support
|
16.00
|
28.15
|
|
Production Driller
|
16.00
|
28.15
|
|
Jumbo Driller
|
16.50
|
30.65
|
(b) At the time of being offered employment
employees will be provided with details of their classification, Base Rate and Roster
Rate. These rates may be above the wage rates provided in (a) above in
recognition of an individual employee's skills and experience.
(c) The Roster Rate will be paid for all
rostered hours worked. The Roster Rate is all inclusive and has been established
taking into account the following:
the
"ordinary hours of work" are deemed to be 38 hours per week.
all
and any disabilities associated with the work environment.
the
duration of rostered shifts.
recognition
that rostered shifts may fall on dayshift or nightshifts, weekends or public
holidays.
(d) An employee rostered to work only on a
dayshift, Monday to Friday, roster will be paid a Roster Rate of 80% of the
Roster Rate provided by (a) above.
(e) The Base Rates and Roster Rates provided
in (a) above shall be increased in line with any State Wage Case Decision of
the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.
Any
increase shall apply from the commencement of the pay period immediately
following the decision.
(f) Employees engaged in production
bogging, mining/ground support, production drilling or jumbo mining may be paid
a productivity payment in addition to the Roster Rate.
Such
additional payments may be determined by the employer on the basis of
measurable productivity and performance.
(g) An employee engaged on duties at a
higher Roster Rate than their normal classification shall be paid the higher
Roster Rate for time spent on such duties.
Should
an employee be required to undertake work at a lower rate than their normal
classification they shall remain on their normal classification Roster Rate
whilst undertaking such work.
12. Additional Hours
(a) Employees who work additional hours to
their rostered hours shall be paid at double time the Base Rate (in lieu of the
Roster Rate) for all such additional hours worked.
(b) In the event that an employee is
required to work hours in excess of the rostered working hours, the Supervisor
and employee shall ensure that a rest period of 10 hours is taken between work
on successive days to avoid tiredness or fatigue. In the event that such rest
period overlaps with normal rostered hours employees shall be paid for the
rostered hours not worked.
(c) An employee who is recalled to work
between shifts on successive days or on a rostered day off shall be paid at the
rate provided for in Clause 12 (a) above. Time taken to travel to and from site
shall be counted as time worked. The minimum payment shall be four hours.
(d)
(i) Subject to (ii) below, an employer may require
an employee to work reasonable hours in addition to their rostered hours at
rates as provided for by this award.
(ii) An employee may refuse to work such
additional hours in circumstances where the working of such hours would result
in the employee working hours which are unreasonable.
(iii) For the purposes of (ii) what is
unreasonable or otherwise will be determined having regard to:
any
risk to employee health and safety;
the
employee's personal circumstances including any family and carer responsibilities;
the
needs of the workplace or enterprise;
the
notice (if any) given by the employer of the requirement to work additional
hours and by the employee of his or her intention to refuse it; and
any
other relevant matter.
13. Casual Employment
(a) An employer may engage employees on a
casual basis to fill temporary shortages of labour or to meet additional work
requirements.
(b) A casual employee shall be paid on an
hourly basis at the Roster Rate in subclause 11(a) of this award plus $2.
(c) 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 three months shall
thereafter have the right to elect to have his or her contract of employment
converted to permanent full-time employment.
(d) the employer of such a casual employee
shall give the employee notice in writing of the provisions of subclause (c) 4 weeks
prior to the employee having attained such period of three months. However, the employee retains his or her
right of election under subclause (c) if the employer fails to comply with this
notice requirement.
14. Payment of Wages
(a) Wages will be paid on a fortnightly or
twice-monthly basis into a bank account which employees nominate, with pays
being deposited into bank accounts within 3 working days of the pay period
ending.
(b) Upon termination of employment, wages
owing to employees will be paid direct into a bank account on the day of
termination or, at the latest, within 2 working days of termination.
15. Superannuation
The
employer will contribute to an approved superannuation fund nominated by the
Company 9% of the employees ordinary time earnings each fortnight.
"Ordinary
time earnings" shall be deemed to be the employees Roster Rate multiplied
by hours worked up to 76 hours per fortnight.
16. Public Holidays
(a) The following days shall be public
holidays under this Award.
New Years
Day
|
Queens
Birthday
|
Australia
Day
|
Labour
Day
|
ANZAC Day
|
Christmas
Day
|
Good
Friday
|
Boxing
Day
|
Easter
Monday
|
Endeavor
Mine Picnic Day
|
together
with any additional public holidays gazetted for the whole of New South Wales.
(b) Should an employee be a shift worker the
employee shall be required to work normally on such public holidays as rostered
for work.
(c) Should an employee be a day worker they
shall generally not be required to work on such public holidays and shall be
paid at their Base Rate for normal rostered hours not worked.
(d) In the event that a shift worker or a
dayworker is required to work on a public holiday the employee shall be paid
the Base Rate plus Roster Rate for all hours worked.
(e) A shift worker who is rostered off on a
public holiday shall receive no additional payment.
(f) The Endeavor Mine Picnic Day will be
held on a date to be determined by the majority of employees covered by this
Award.
17. Annual Leave
(a) Employees are entitled to the following
annual leave entitlement for each completed year of service:
Continuous
Shift Workers
|
5 weeks
|
Dayworkers
|
4 weeks
|
To
calculate the actual annual leave entitlement in hours the entitlement is multiplied
by the average number of hours the employee is rostered to work each week.
(b) Employees shall accrue leave according
to whether they are working as a shift worker or a day worker.
(c) Employees may apply for and take annual
leave at any time, provided:
(i) the leave is taken at a time convenient
and approved by the employer taking into account labour requirements of the
operation;
(ii) the amount of leave taken does not
exceed the employees accrued pro-rata entitlement;
(iii) the period of annual leave is exclusive
of public holidays for day workers;
(d) Rostered hours taken as annual leave
shall be paid at the employees Roster Rate or Base Rate plus 17 1/2 % annual
leave loading whichever is the higher.
(e) On termination employees will be
entitled to any accrued untaken leave entitlement.
18. Sick Leave
(a) Employees will be entitled to a maximum
of 80 hours paid leave per year for absences due to personal illness or injury.
Such leave shall accrue at the rate of 1.5343 hours per week of service and the
amount of paid leave taken at any time shall not exceed the employees accrued
pro-rata entitlement.
(b) Sick leave shall be paid at the
employees Base Rate for rostered hours only.
(c) Payment for sick leave is conditional
upon employees:
(i) informing the employer, wherever
practicable, prior to the commencement of such absence of the inability to
attend work, the nature of the illness and the estimated duration of the
absence; and
(ii) providing to the employer a Doctor's
Certificate if required as outlined in (d) below.
(d) Employees are required to provide a
Doctor's Certificate for any absence due to illness where the absence:
(i) occurs during the probationary period
of service;
(ii) is of two or more consecutive days
duration;
(iii) after an employee has exhausted their
entitlement to paid sick leave;
(iv) occurs on a
public holiday or on either rostered shift immediately before or after the
public holiday;
(v) as specifically and reasonably requested
by the employer.
(e) In the event that employees are absent
from work other than on an approved leave and do not produce a Doctor's
Certificate as required pursuant to this clause, they will be deemed to have
been absent from work without authorisation and will not be paid.
(f) Any part of an employees sick leave
entitlement which has not been taken in any year will be accrued and available
to be claimed in a subsequent year of continued employment.
(g)
(i) an employee may utilise any accumulated
sick leave to enable paid leave from work in situations where an employee is
required to care for a family member for which the employee is responsible.
(ii) under circumstances where an employee is
seeking carer's leave under this Clause the employee must apply for leave and
shall provide evidence to support the application for leave should it be
requested by the Company.
(h) Any accrued untaken sick leave shall not
be paid on termination.
19. Bereavement Leave
(a) Employees will, on the death of their
spouse, parent, brother, sister, child, step-child, parent-in-law, grandparent,
brother-in-law or sister-in-law be entitled to 3 consecutive shifts leave with
pay at their Roster Rate. Should an
employee be required to travel outside of Australia to attend the funeral the
employee will be entitled to 5 consecutive shifts leave at their Roster Rate.
(b) For the purpose of this clause the word
"spouse" will include de facto spouse and the word "parent"
will include foster parent and step-parent.
20. Jury Service Leave
(a) An employee required to attend for Jury
Service during his/her normal rostered hours shall be paid by the company the
difference between the amount paid in respect of attendance and the employee's
Roster Rate for the period of leave.
(b) An employee shall notify the Company as
soon as possible of the date(s) upon which there is a requirement to attend for
Jury Service. Further, the employee shall provide to the Company proof of
attendance and the duration and amount received for such attendance.
21. Long Service Leave
Employees
will be entitled to long service leave in accordance with the provisions of the
NSW Long Service Leave (Metalliferous
Mining Industry) Act.
An employee
who has completed 5 years continuous service and resigns or is terminated by
the employer for other than serious and wilful misconduct shall be paid long
service leave on a pro-rata basis on termination.
22. Parental Leave
Employees
will be entitled to maternity, paternity and adoption leave in accordance with
the provisions of the NSW Industrial
Relations Act
23. Safe to Work
Employees
shall be required to comply with the Endeavor Mine's and the employer's Alcohol
& Other Drugs Policy - which include the requirement to submit to random or
reasonable cause alcohol and other drugs testing.
24. Work Clothing and Footwear
(a) Clothing
(i) full-time employees will be provided
with three sets of work clothing and three flannels by the Client on engagement
which shall be replaced on the basis of "fair wear and tear". Employees will be required to wear the
supplied work clothing whilst at work.
(ii) Endeavor Mines shall arrange for the
laundering of work clothing.
(b) Safety Footwear
(i) employees will be provided with
appropriate safety footwear which employees will be required to wear whilst at
work.
(ii) safety footwear provided by the employer
will be replaced when no longer suitable for protection as a result of
"fair wear and tear".
25. Site Security
Employees
shall be required to comply with Endeavor Mines site security and access
procedures which includes the requirement to have lockers, bags and vehicles
searched without prior warning.
26. Health and Hygiene
As the
Endeavor Mine mines and processes lead employees are required to comply with
all hygiene requirements which have been established for employees working in
such environments. This information will be provided to employees at Induction.
It is a
condition of employment that if employees are working in the underground
operations, or in and around the Concentrator, employees must shower and change
after the conclusion of their shift prior to leaving the site.
27. Workers Compensation
The
employers will administer workers compensation in accordance with the NSW Workers
Compensation Act 1987 and the NSW Workplace Injury Management &
Workers Compensation Act 1998.
In relation
to any periods of incapacity for which an employee is entitled to be paid
workers compensation the payments will be paid at the Roster Rate up to the
following maximum hours for each rostered shift absent
Dayworker
Mon-Fri
|
7.60
hours
|
Shift
Worker - 3 panel
|
8.14
hours
|
Shift
Worker - 4 panel
|
10.86
hours
|
28. Redundancy
In the event
of an employees position becoming redundant an employee shall be entitled to
severance payments in accordance with the entitlements provided by the NSW Metalliferous Mining Industry (State)
Award.
For the
purposes of this entitlement a "week's wages" shall be an employees
Roster Rate multiplied by 38 hours.
29. Anti-Discrimination
(a) It is the intention of the parties bound
by this award to seek to achieve the object in section 3(f) of the Industrial
Relations Act 1996 to prevent and eliminate discrimination in the
workplace. This includes discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, marital
status, disability, homosexuality, transgender identity, age and carer's
responsibility.
(b) It follows that in fulfilling their
obligations under the dispute resolution procedure prescribed by this award,
the parties have obligations to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the
operation of the provisions of this award are not directly or indirectly
discriminatory in their effects. It will be consistent with the fulfilment of
these obligations for the parties to make application to vary any provision of
the award which, by its terms or operation, has a direct or indirect
discriminatory effect.
(c) Under the Anti-Discrimination Act
1977, it is unlawful to victimise an employee because the employee has made or
may make or has been involved in a complaint of unlawful discrimination or
harassment.
30. Union Membership
(a) A full-time employee, or a casual
employee with two or more months continuous service, may authorise for the
employer to have membership fees of the Australian Workers Union, NSW Branch,
deducted from the employee's wages on a fortnightly basis.
(b) The employer shall be entitled to retain
5% of the fees deducted to cover administration costs.
31. No Extra Claims
The Union
and the employees party to this Award undertake they will not pursue any extra
claims, award or over award, for the duration of this Award unless an
applicable State Test Case decision is made in which case the AWU reserves its
rights to apply as appropriate.
32. Grievance Resolution Procedure
(a) General
(i) it is acknowledged problems may arise
from time to time and that is necessary to resolve these matters promptly
without any stoppages of work, ban or any limitation on the performance of
work.
(ii) in the event of an employee having any
difficulties or concerns the employee should raise the matter with the
Supervisor who will make every effort to resolve the matter.
(iii) if the matter cannot be resolved by the
Supervisor the employee should refer the matter directly to the Company's Site
Manager who will discuss and resolve the matter.
(iv) at any stage in the process the employee
may elect a third party or Union Organiser to represent the employee.
(v) nothing shall prevent the employer or
the employee from notifying the NSW Industrial Relations Commission and
requesting its assistance should the matter not be resolved to the satisfaction
of both the employer and employee.
(b) Safety Concerns
It is
recognised that problems related to safety and other hazardous situations may
arise from time to time, which require immediate attention and decision. An
unsafe and hazardous situation is a situation, which is considered by an
employee to endanger their safety.
(i) where a problem arises in connection
with safety, the employee will report the matter to his immediate Supervisor.
(ii) if the matter is not resolved, the
employee should request the Supervisor to immediately contact the employees
Site Manager and the employers OH&S Officer.
(iii) if the matter is still unresolved, the
matter will be referred to the Registered Mine Manager.
(iv) failing resolution of the matter by the Registered
Mine Manager, the issue will be referred to the Regional Inspector of Mines who
shall make the final decision in that capacity.
(v) when it is necessary for work to be done
to rectify a dangerous situation the employer and the employees will co-operate
to ensure maximum safety to all employees concerned with such work.
(vii) whilst these procedures are continuing,
the status quo shall remain and no stoppage of work or any form of limitation
or work shall be applied, except as provided in (ii) (c) above.
J. P. GRAYSON D.P.
____________________
Printed by
the authority of the Industrial Registrar.