Company gets the first of three new enterprise agreements up and running, but may struggle with the second and third
Aurizon’s long-term project to revitalise its employment arrangements scored an important goal this week, with the Fair Work Commission (FWC) approving its Queensland staff enterprise agreement.
FWC deputy president Peter Sams rejected a union-led challenge to the result of a staff vote, held in October last year.
He agreed there had been some irregularities with the vote, but says there was no evidence to suggest they affected the resulting staff endorsement of the agreement. The vote had recorded 463 votes in favour, to 433 against.
There had been some confusion over who had been eligible to vote, with some cadets and graduates not covered by the agreement given the opportunity to cast ballots.
The company realised its error part-way through the voting period, and says the damage was limited to 13 unauthorised votes; meaning a majority approval was still met.
“As I have found that there was a valid majority of employees who voted to approve the agreement, I am further satisfied that the employees genuinely agreed to the approval of the agreement,” Sams says.
He dismissed a challenge to the vote, led by a collection of six affected unions including the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) and Professionals Australia.
Aurizon has welcomed the decision, saying that the 1,400 employees covered by the new agreement will receive annual pay rises of 4 per cent for the three years of its term.
The deal also provides for “more contemporary” employment conditions that Aurizon says will “help deliver significant productivity and efficiency improvements” at the company.
“The approval of the staff agreement demonstrates employee support for more modern enterprise agreements that provide flexibility to improve our service to customers,” managing director and CEO Lance Hockridge says.
Aurizon’s 4,800 Queensland employees are presently covered by 13 different enterprise agreements, all of which nominally expired at the end of 2013.
The company has been working with the six unions to create three new enterprise agreements covering train crews; construction and maintenance staff; and “staff personnel” in functions such as administration and accounting.
While the staff enterprise agreement will now take effect from January 28, things are looking more divided on the remaining deals.
Aurizon-backed agreements were put to votes in October last year, but both were rejected by the relevant staff.
Aurizon has sought to terminate all the existing enterprise agreements covering its employees, thereby forcing a faster resolution.
The full bench of the FWC heard submissions on the application in November last year, but has yet to publish a decision.