Seymour, I. v. Stawell Timber Industries Pty Ltd [1985] FCA 368
Federal Court of Australia
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CATCHWORDS Noe Chee
Industrial law - award - breach - reference in award to state
legislation - whether reference includes state legislation as
subsequently amended, repealed and re-enacted - whether state
legislation enforceable as part of award ~ whether preface to
award may be used as aid to construction ~- whether breaches of
award with respect to two employees arose out of "a course of
conduct" - whether penalty payable to employee not entitled to.
amount under award.
Industrial law - contract of employment - whether terminated by
appointment of receiver and manager - whether terminated by
dismissal in breach of contract.
Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 s. 52, s. 119, s. 120, s.
122, s. 125, 5. 118C, 5s. 59
Crimes Act 1914 s. 13, s. 21B
Audit Act 1901
Industrial Training Act 1975 (Vic.) s. 56, s. 7, S. 2, S. 28, 5s.
33, 5. 35, 5. 38
Apprenticeship Act 1958 (Vic.) s. 7, s. 44, s. 45
Labour and Industry Act 1958 (Vic.)
Commonwealth of Australia Constitution s. 109
-2-
Federal Firefighters Union v. Minister of State for the Capital
Territory (1982) 62 F.L.R. 341
Wright v. T.I.L. Services Pty. Ltd. £19561 S.R. (N.S.W.) 413
McManus v. General Blectric Co. of Australia Ltd. (1971) 18
F.L.R. 374
T.A. Robinson & Sons Pty. Ltd. v. Haylor (1957) 97 C.L.R. 177
Rowe v. Capital Territory Health Commission (1982) 62 F.L.R. 383
IAN SEYMOUR v. STAWELL TIMBER INDUSTRIES PROPRIETARY LIMITED
(RECEIVER AND MANAGER APPOINTED)
NORTHROP, KEELY AND GRAY JJ.
MELBOURNE,
STH JULY 1985.
IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
)
)
VICTORIA DISTRICT REGISTRY ) V. No. 21 of 1983
)
)
INDUSTRIAL DIVISION
BETWEEN :
IAN SEYMOUR Applicant
and
STAWELL TIMBER INDUSTRIES PTY. LTD.
(Receiver and Manager Appointed) Respondent
CQURT: NORTHROP, KEELY AND GRAY JJ.
DATE: STH JULY, 1985
PLACE: MELBOURNE
MINUTE OF ORDER
THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
l.
Pursuant to sub-sections 119(1), 119(1A), 119(1D) and
119(2) of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 a
pecuniary penalty of $§800.00 be imposed upon the
respondent.
Judgment be entered for the applicant in the said sum of
$800.00.
Pursuant to section 120 of the Conciliation and
Arbitration Act 1904 the said pecuniary penalty imposed
in pursuance of section 119 be paid into the
Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Pursuant to sub-section 119(3) of the Conciliation and
Arbitration Act 1904 the respondent pay to Geoffrey
Miller the amount of underpayment of his entitlement
under the Award being $1,152.12.
(Settlement and entry of Orders is dealt with in 0.36 of the
Rules of Court.)
IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
)
)
VICTORIA DISTRICT REGISTRY ) V. No. 20 of 1983
)
)
INDUSTRIAL DIVISION
BETWEEN :
IAN SEYMOUR Applicant
and
STAWELL TIMBER INDUSTRIES PTY. LTD.
(Receiver and Manager Appointed) Respondent
COURT: NORTHROP, KEELY AND GRAY JJ.
DATE: STH JULY, 1985
PLACE: MELBOURNE
MINUTE OF ORDER
THE COURT ORDERS THAT pursuant to sub-section 119(1A) of the
Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904, a penalty having been
imposed in matter V. No. 21 of 1983 in respect of the breach
or non-observance of award the subject cf this proceeding,
the application be dismissed.
(Settlement and entry of Orders is dealt with in 0.36 of the
Rules of Court.) -
IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
)
)
VICTORIA DISTRICT REGISTRY ») VNo's. 20 & 21 of 1983
)
INDUSTRIAL DIVISION )
BETWEEN :
TAN SEYMOUR Applicant
and
STAWELL TIMBER INDUSTRIES PTY. LTD.
(Receiver and Manager Appointed) Respondent
COURT: NORTHROP, KEELY AND GRAY Jd.
DATE: STH JULY, 1985
PLACE: MELBOURNE
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
NORTHROP J.
The substantial question raised in these
proceedings is whether Part III of Clause E35 of the
Carpenters and Joiners Award 1967 ("the award") imposes an
obligation upon the respondent to pay to its apprentices the
yates of pay prescribed by the award. That Fart is as
follows:
"Except where inconsistent with this Division,
the Regulations of the Apprenticeship Commission of
Victoria shall apply to apprentices in that State."
The question is whether those Regulations apply to the
respondent as part of the law of the State of Victoria or
whether the award makes those Regulations apply to the
respondent as part of the law of the Commonwealth. On this
question, I agree with the conclusions reached by Gray J.
and, 1n general, agree with his reasons for coming to those
conclusions but desire to make a few general observations on
why I have come to the same conclusion.
Section 52 of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act
1904 provides as follows:
"52 In determining an industrial dispute in which
the rates of pay or conditions of employment
applying to apprentices in an industry are in
question, the Commission shall take into
consideration any scheme of apprenticeship provided
by or under the law of any State or Territory."
This section gives a clear direction to the Commission. It
does not prevent the Commission from making an award binding
upon employers with respect to apprentices employed by them
but it does give recognition to the special nature of
apprenticeships in industry.
It is clear that if the award contained a provision
to the effect that the award was not to apply to the
employment of apprentices, within Victoria, the Regulations
of the State authority, or rather the successors of those
Regulations, would apply to the respondent as part of the law
of the State of Victoria. In fact, the draftsman of the
award has adopted clear words to that effect where the award
is not to apply to the employment of apprentices. Thus the
introductory paragraph of Part II of Clause E35 of the award
which applies to apprentices in the State of South Australia
provides:
"This Division shall not apply to the
employment of apprenticed carpenters or joiners in
South Australia except to the extent prescribed in
the sub-clauses of this Part."
Sub-clause (e) of that Part further supports that exclusion
by making it clear that the award 1s subject to the law of
that State. That sub-clause provides:
"(Ce) Except where inconsistent with the South
Australian Apprentices Act 1950-1971, the
general provisions of this Division shall
apply to apprentices employed on work within
the scope of this Division."
These provisions of Part II must be contrasted with the
provisions of the award contained in Part III relating to
apprentices in the State of Victoria.
As a general rule, the draftsman of the award has
used the verb "apply" in the sense of bringing a law into
contact with facts, to put into practical operation; compare
Shorter Oxford Dictionary. The draftsman has used the verb
"apply" to make the award binding upon employers; see the
illustrations contained in the reasons of Gray J. The
draftsman, in his use of the verb "apply" in Part III has
been consistent with this general use of the word. Under
Part III, the Regulations of the State authority are made to
apply to apprentices in the State of Victoria. Pramacy is
given to the award, see the opening phrase, and the award
gives legal efficacy to the Regulations of the State
authority as Commonwealth law insofar as those Regulations
are not inconsistent with the particular provisions contained
in that Division. The draftsman has used the verb "apply" in
the sense of bringing the Regulations of the State authority
to bear as part of the award. On this construction, it is
clear that the Commission has had regard to the direction
contained in s.52 of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act.
I have received no assistance in determining the
substantive question by reference to what was said at the
request of the parties to the dispute by Mr. Commissioner
Mathews when making the award. The relevant passages are set
out in the reasons of Keely J. and I quote part of what is
there set out:
"The parties desire, and the Commission agrees that
at is desirable, that the new award should he
prefaced by the following statements:-
(5) As to apprentices in Victoria, it will be
noted from Part III of clause 836, for
instance, that regulation of their conditions
has been left to the State authority for the
present. The rights of the parties on this
matter are reserved, however."
In that statement, the reference to Clause B36 is noted. At
that time, what is now Clause B35 was numbered B36.
Statement numbered (5) contains its own ambiguities
and in particular it does not appear to be directed to the
question of whether the Regulations of the State authority
should apply as part of the law of the State of Victoria or
whether the award makes those Regulations apply as part of
the law of the Commonwealth.
This matter illustrates the wisdom of the principle
of law which prevents reference to negotiations between
parties leading to the making of an agreement as an aid to
the construction of the agreement. This principle was
referred to by Evatt and Northrop JJ. in Federal
Firefighters' Union v. Minister of State for the Capital
Territory (1982) 62 F.L.R. 341 at pp.344-5:
"In support of his contentions, counsel for
the union tendered and sought to rely upon material
from which the award is derived as well as the logs
of claim on which the award is based. He contended
that that material formed a matrix of facts by
which the award should be construed. He relied
upon the opinion expressed by Lord Wilberforce in
Prenn v. Simmonds (19711 1 W.L.R. 1381. The
material was of interest but not of assistance in
considering cl.23 of the award. The material
itself used words and expressions which were
unclear and confused. In reality the material was
unhelpful. In this respect, it is important to
note that Lord Wilberforce said, at pp.1384-1385:
'There were prolonged negotiations between
solicitors, with exchanges of draft clauses
ultimately emerging in clause 2 of the agreement.
The reason for not admitting evidence of these
exchanges is not a technical one or even mainly one
of convenience, (although the attempt to admit it
did greatly prolong the case and add toa its
expense). It is simply that such evidence is
unhelpful. By the nature of things, where
negotiations are difficult, the parties' positions,
with each passing letter, are changing and until
the final agreement, though converging, still
divergent. It is only the final document which
records a consensus. If the previous documents use
different expressions, how does construction of
those expressions, itself a doubtful process, help
on the construction of the contractual words? Tf
the same expressions are used, nothing is gained by
looking back; indeed, something may be lost since
the relevant surrounding circumstances may be
different. And at this stage there is no consensus
of the parties to appeal to.' "
I agree with the reasons and conclusion of Gray J.
that the conduct of the respondent in fazrling to pay to its
two apprentices, Mr. Miller and Mr. Hughes, wages in
accordance with the terms of the award, constituted a number
of breaches of the award but that those breaches arose out of
a course of conduct and thus, under sub-section 119(1A) of
the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, must be treated as
constituting a single breach of those terms. Likewise, I
agree with the reasons and conclusion of Gray J. that it is
appropriate that a penalty of $800 should be imposed upon the
respondent.
I agree with the reasons and conclusion of Gray J.
that under sub-section 119(3) of the Conciliation and
Arbitration Act, the Court should order that the respondent
pay to Mr. Miller the sum of $1,152.12, but that since Mr.
Hughes was not a member of any relevant organization, the
Court has no power to make a similar order with respect to
the amount of wages not paid to him.
Counsel for the applicant submitted that the Court,
pursuant to the powers conferred by s.120 of the Conciliation
and Arbitration Act, should order that the penalty of $800 be
paid to Mr. Hughes in part satisfaction of the amount of
wages that are owed to him by the respondent. That section
provides:
"120 Where any Court imposes a penalty in pursuance
of section 119, or in pursuance of section 122, it
may order that the penalty, or any part thereof, be
paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, or to such
organization or person as is specified in the
order,"
The power conferred by that section arises where
the Court imposes a penalty in proceedings under s.1193 or
s.122. The nature of a penalty imposed in pursuance of s.119
is different in nature from a penalty imposed in pursuance of
5.122. A proceeding in pursuance of s.119 1s based on the
concept of an action brought by a common informer; see
Vehicle Builders' Employees' Federation of Australia v.
General Motors-Holidens Pty. Ltd. (1977) 32 F.L.R. 100 per
Nimmo, St. John and Northrop JJ. at pp.111-114. A proceeding
under s.119 is not a proceeding for a criminal offence; see
Gapes v. Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd. (1979) 27 A.L.R.
87. Normally in proceedings for a penalty brought by a
common informer, any penalty imposed is ordered to be paid to
the person who brought the proceedings. Sub-section 119(2)
specifies classes of persons who may bring proceedings for
the imposition of a penalty under 5.119. That sub-section is
set out:
"119(2) Any such penalty may be sued for and
recovered by -
{a} the Registrar; or
(aa) an Inspector; or
(b) any organization which is affected, or
whose members or any of them are affected,
by the breach; or
{c) any member of any organization who is
affected by the breach; or
(d) any party to the award or order; or
(e) any officer of any organization which is
affected, or any of whose members are
affected, by the breach, who is authorized
under the rules of the organization to sue
on behalf of the organization."
A proceeding brought in pursuance of 5.122 is a
proceeding for a criminal offence. Under s.13 of the Crimes
Act 1914, unless the contrary intention appears in the Act or
regulation creating the offence, any person may institute
proceedings for the summary conviction of any person in
respect of any offence against the law of the Commonwealth
punishable on summary conviction. It is noted that Mr.
Hughes would have been able to bring proceedings for the
imposition of a penalty under 5.122. It is noted further
that any penalty imposed upon conviction for a criminal
offence, normally, is paid into Consolidated Revenue, see the
Audit Act 1901 and the Finance Requiations.
In the present case, the proceedings are brought by
the applicant in his capacity as an Inspector. Consistently
with the nature of the proceedings and the position of the
applicant, the penalty imposed should be ordered to be paid
into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the applicant not having
brought these proceedings for his own financial benefit.
Mr. Hughes does not come within any of the classes
specified in sub-section 119(2) of the Conciliation and
Arbitration Act. It follows therefore that he is not
authorised to sue for a penalty under s.119. Under s.120
where a penalty is imposed, the Court is empowered to order
that the penalty be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund
or to such organization or person as is specified in the
order. Section 120 must be read in conjunction with
sub-section 119(2) and, in this respect, to the classes of
persons who are authorised to bring proceedings which are in
the nature of proceedings brought by a common informer. In
my opinion, insofar as proceedings are brought pursuant to
s.119 and a penalty is imposed, s.120 should be construed as
limiting the words "such organization or person" ta
Organizations or persons who have brought or who are capable
of bringing proceedings under s.119 and thus of necessity,
come within one of the classes of organizations ocr persons
specified in sub-section 119(2).
Accordingly, I am of the opinion that the Court has
mo power to make the order under 5.120 of the Conciliation
and Arbitration Act sought by counsel for the applicant,
namely, that the penalty of $800.00 be paid to Mr. Hughes.
If my opinion 1s wrong, im the exercise of the
discretion conferred by 5.120, I would refuse to make the
order sought. By sub-section 119(3) the Legislature has made
clear the classes of persons who may benefit from an order
for payment of moneys due under an award. Mr. Hughes does
not come within any of those classes. I consider that it
would be wrong for a Court to exercise a general power to
nullify a particular privilege conferred upon classes of
persons by the exercise of a particular power. To do 56
would be to negative the limited power conferred by
sub-section 119(3) by relying upon the general power
contained in s.120. It is interesting to note that if the
respondent had been convicted of an offence under 5.122,
- 10 -
apart from the power conferred by s.120, it is probable that
the Court would have had power to order that the respondent
pay to Mr. Hughes the amount of the wages unpaid; see 5.21B
of the Crimes Act.
In the result, I agree with the orders proposed by
Gray d.
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IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
)
)
VICTORIA DISTRICT REGISTRY ) Nos. V. 20 and 21 of 1983
)
)
INDUSTRIAL DIVISION
BETWEEN:
IAN SEYMOUR
Applicant
AND:
STAWELL TIMBER INDUSTRIES
PROPRIETARY LIMITED
(RECEIVER AND MANAGER
APPOINTED)
Respondent
CORAM : NORTHROP, KEELY and GRAY Jd.
5 JULY, 1985
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
KEELY J :
Two applications under s. 119 of the Conciliation
and Arbitration Act 1904 (the Act) have been brought by Ian
Seymour (the applicant), an inspector appointed under the
Act. Pursuant to an order under s. 118C of the Act the
proceedings have been heard and are to be determined by a
Full Court. Each application seeks the imposition of a
penalty upon Stawell Timber Industries Proprietary Limited
(Receiver and Manager Appointed) (the respondent) for
allegedly breaching the Carpenters and Joiners Award 1967
(the award) on 11 occasions in successive weeks commencing on
29 June, 1978 and concluding on 7 September, 1978. Each of
the breaches is alleged to consist of a failure to pay to an
apprentice (Mr. Hughes in matter V. 20 of 1983 and Mr. Miller
in matter V. 21 of 1983) "all wages, allowances and other
monies ... due to the said employee pursuant to Clause E35
Part 111 and the Industrial Training (Carpentry and Joinery
Trades Apprenticeship) (Amendment) Regulations 1977 not later
than the time of cessation of work on that day contrary to
the provisions of Clause E30 of the Award.:"
On 7 November, 1983 the respondent's solicitors
filed points of defence in which the respondent made no
admissions, save for the incorporation of the respondent. It
denied that it was bound by the award and contended further
that "it was not bound by the Award by operation of law",
giving as particulars that a receiver and manager of the
respondent was duly appointed on 12 June, 1978. Relying
upon the same particulars, it also contended that each of the
two apprenticeships "was determined by operation of law" on
or about 12 June, 1978, "alternatively suspended by operation
of law" between 29 June, 1978 and 7 September, 1978. In my
opinion the appointment of a receiver and manager, referred
to in the particulars, did not operate to determine or
suspend the two apprenticeships in question, nor did it
result in the respondent being "not bound by the Award by
operation of law" - as contended in the respondent's defence
(see Griffith v Secretary of State for Social Services (1974)
Q.B. 468).
an
3.
Mr. T. Ginnane, of counsel, appeared for the
applicant in both matters which were heard together. The
respondent was not represented before the Full Court but at
an earlier hearing, before the order that the proceedings be
heard and determined by a Full Court, Mr. WN. Fryde,
solicitor, who appeared for the respondent, stated that "it
no longer wished to appear in these proceedings, as the
company is insolvent and legal costs can no longer be met".
The award consisted of five divisions. Division E,
which was headed "Joinery Shops", included clauses El, E30
and E35 which contained the following provisions :-
"El - Application of Division E
(a) Subject to the exceptions and modifications
contained in this Division, Divisions A and E shall
apply to the employment of all persons employed in
the classifications of joinery work defined in this
Division.
E30 - Payment of Wages
(a) All wages, allowances and other moneys due
shall be paid not later than the time of cessation
of work on Thursday of each working week or
otherwise by mutual arrangement ..."
Clause E35, which was headed "Junior Labour", was
divided into three parts. Part I, which was headed
"Unapprenticed, South Australia", included the following
provision :-
4.
"(b) Unapprenticed junior employees shall be paid
the same rate prescribed in sub-clause (b) of Part
II hereof provided that at the completion of four
years employment or on attaining 21 years of age,
whichever is the sooner, such employee shall he
paid the appropriate adult rate prescribed by this
Division".
Part II of clause E35, which was headed "Apprentices South
Australia", provided, amongst other things, that :-
"This Division shall not apply to the employment of
apprenticed carpenters or joiners in South
Australia except to the extent prescribed in the
sub-clauses of this Part.
(b) The minimum ordinary rate of pay to be paid to
apprentices shall be in accordance with the
percentages as set out in the table herein of the
vate of pay prescribed by clause E4 for a Carpenter
or Joiner in the locality in which they are
employed".
Sub-clause (b) then set out a Table which prescribed various
percentages per week for first, second, third and fourth year
apprentices in South Australia.
Part III of clause E35 was in terms quite different
from the award prescription of rates of pay for apprentices
in South Australia set out in sub-clause (b) above. It read
as follows :-
"Part III - Apprentices, Victoria
Except where inconsistent with this Division, the
Regulations of the Apprenticeship Commission of
Victoria shall apply to apprentices in that State."
5.
The applicant submitted that Part III of clause E35
of the award imposed upon the respondent an obligation to
comply with "the regulations of the Apprenticeship Commission
of Victoria". A question has arisen as to whether clause
E35 Part III was intended to incorporate into the award "the
Regulations of the Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria" or
was intended to simply preserve the operation of those
regulations as State law.
A similar question of construction arose in McManus
v General Electric Co. of Australia Ltd. (1971) 18 F.L.R. 374
where the Commonwealth Industrial Court considered the
meaning of clause 7(q) of the Metal Trades Award, which
provided that :-
"In any State in which any statute relating to
apprentices is now or hereafter in force or in
which any authority with statutory power has issued
or may issue any regulations relating to
apprentices such statute and such regulations shall
operate in such State provided that the provisions
thereof are not inconsistent with this award."
Spicer C.J. (at p. 375-6) said :-
"It seems to me that there are two views which can
be taken as to the meaning and intent of cl. 7(q).
One is that it operates to indicate the field in
which the Federal award applies and avoids the
operation of that award in such a way as to
override the State laws to the extent indicated in
the clause. On this view the award is not to be
taken as covering the whole field but preserves the
operation of State law as State law save to the
extent that State law directly collides with the
provisions of the award.
6.
The other view is that cl. 7(q) in effect
incorporates the State law in the Federal award to
the extent indicated in the clause."
Mr. Ginnane submitted that, as a matter of
construction, Part III of Clause E35 did not merely preserve
the operation of the regulations as regulations made under
State law but that it incorporated the regulations into the
award. He acknowledged that in clause El(b) where it was
sought to "incorporate" into the award the provisions of
another document, the award had expressly used the words
"specifically incorporated herein". That sub~clause
provided as follows :-
"Otherwise such respondents shall observe the
provisions of the Timber Workers Award with respect
to such employees and that award shall be read and
construed as if it had been specifically
incorporated herein ..."
In McManus' Case (supra at p. 376) Spicer C.J. made
it clear that the absence of words "that expressly
incorporate State law" weighed against the submission
advanced in that case (the same submission as that of the
present applicant), saying :-
"It is to be noted that there are provisions in the
award that expressly incorporate State law, for
example, cl. 6(@). The absence of such a provision
incl. 7{q) weighs against the view now being
considered."
7.
His Honour then explained why the absence of such a provision
would nonetheless be outweighed by other matters which were
present in that case, saying :-
"However there are other features of cl. 7(q) which
point in the other direction. It appears to give
to the State law an operation it would not
otherwise have. It is to operate in relation to
the scheme of apprenticeship established by the
award and to apprentices under that scheme ...
On the whole therefore I have reached the
conclusion that this second view is the one which
should be adopted ..."
The reference by Spicer C.J. to "other features of cl. 7(q)
(of the Metal Trades Award) which point in the other
direction" (namely, giving "to the State law an operation it
would not otherwise have") does not assist the present
applicant, however, because those "other features" are absent
from the Carpenters and Joiners Award.
It should be added that Smithers J., who with
Spicer C.J. constituted the majority of the Court in that
case, was of the same opinion as Spicer C.J., namely, that
the award clause gave to the State law an operation it would
not otherwise have. Smithers J. pointed out (p. 377) that
the apprenticeship there under consideration "was the
creature of the award ... entered into pursuant to the
elaborate provisions of cl. 7 of the award" whereas (p. 381)
the State law provisions "relate only to apprentices who have
entered into indentures under State law".
8.
In the present case it has not been contended, and,
in my opinion, could not have been contended, that clause E35
Part III gave "to the State law an operation it would not
otherwise have" - the matter mentioned by Spicer C.J. as
pointing "in the other direction" and also referred to by
Smithers J.. The present matter is distinguishable from
McManus' Case because the award did not contain "the
elaborate provisions" as to apprenticeships referred to by
the Court in McManus' Case; further, the apprenticeships to
which the present proceedings relate were not inay sense
"the creature of the award" and had been entered into under
State law.
In my opinion, clause E35 Part III, construed in
its context, does not (in the words of Spicer C.d.)
incorporate "the State law in the Federal award"; instead it
"preserves the operation of State law as State law save to
the extent that State law directly collides with the
provisions of the award".
There are three matters which support that
conclusion as a matter of construction. The first matter is
the absence from clause E35 Part 111 of any words expressly
incorporating State law; the absence of such words is
significant, particularly as the award in clause El(b), (to
which reference was made earlier) expressly uses the words
"as if it had been specifically incorporated herein". - The
second matter is that, where it was intended that rates of
pay for apprentices should operate by force of the award
9.
itself but by reference to other rates, the award said s0
explicitly. For example, in clause E35 Part I(b), it used
the words "shall be paid the same rate prescribed in
sub-clause (b) of Part 11..."; again, in clause E35 Part
II(b) it used the words "rate of pay ... shall be in
accordance with the percentages as set out in the table
herein of the rate of pay prescribed by clause F4 ...". The
third matter is that (as Joske J. said in his dissenting
judgment in McManus' case, supra at p. 376), it is "hard to
believe that the conciliation commissioner intended to
incorporate into his award, in addition to existing
provisions of the State law, possible future provisions of an
entirely unknown character".
Mr. Ginnane put several submissions in support of
the applicant's proposition that the award incorporated State
law. First, it was contended that "the award governs many
of the apprentices' conditions of employment" in Victoria.
Relying upon clause E2(7) of the award, which defined
"employee" as including "an apprentice or (in South
Australia) an unapprenticed junior", he contended that
clauses E8, E15, E16, E20, E21, E23, E28, E29 and E39 of the
award governed the conditions of apprentices although they
did not specifically refer to apprentices. However, the
submission fails in my opinion because those clauses, with
the possible exception of one clause and of part of another,
did not govern the conditions of employment of Victorian
apprentices unless it is first accepted that clause E35 Part
111 has the meaning for which the applicant contends.
10.
It is necessary to deal briefly with each of those
clauses. Clause E8 ("Special rates"), in providing that
"extra rates shall be paid", specified that they were to he
"in addition to the rates otherwise prescribed in this
Division"; however, the support sought to be obtained from
that clause depends upon the very question whether those
rates were "rates otherwise prescribed in his Division".
Similarly, the prescription in clause EFl6 ("overtime and
special time") only applied in respect of "time worked beyond
the ordinary time of work as prescribed in clause £13 of this
Division"; again, the argument depends upon whether the
"ordinary time of work" of Victorian apprentices was so
prescribed by the award. For the same reason, the
applicant's submission is not assisted by clause EZ0 ("meal
allowance") which only applied to employees working overtime
"after working ordinary hours". Similarly, sub-clause (ii)
of clause E21 (payment for "travelling time") is dependent
upon the meaning of "ordinary rate of pay".
Clause E28 ("annual leave") similarly referred to
"ordinary rate of payment" and was therefore dependent upon
that rate being prescribed by the award. Clause E29 ("sick
leave") did not expressly refer to the "ordinary rate of pay"
but in my opinion the words "without deduction of pay" must,
in context, have referred to the "pay" due under the award.
Similarly, sub-clauses (b), (c) and (d) of clause E15 ("rest
periods and crib times") used the words "without deduction of
pay". Clause E38 ("accident pay") which referred to "the
il.
employee's appropriate 40 hour award rate", plainly applied
only to those employees in respect of whom an award rate had
been prescribed.
Of all the clauses cited, the only clauses which
May have governed a condition of employment of the Victorian
apprentices, irrespective of the construction placed upon
clause E35 Part 111, were sub-clause E21(i) ("fares") and
Clause E23 ("compensation for clothes and tools"). In my
opinion the existence of those clauses does not support the
applicant's submission that "the award governs many of the
apprentices' conditions of employment", and that,
accordingly, it "might be thought to be unlikely that the
central matter of wages would be left for enforcement under
State regulation".
Mr. Ginnane's second contention was that the verb
"apply", used in clause E35 Part III, was an apt word to
create an enforceable right. However, the words "shall
apply" in clause E35 Part III are no stronger than the words
"shall operate", which appeared in clause 7(q) of the Metal
Trades award (set out earlier in these reasons) as to which
Spicer C.J. in McManus' Case said that two views were open.
The words "shall apply", taken on their own, are capable of
conveying either of those two meanings but, in my opinion,
when read in the context of the award, they do not
incorporate the State law into the Federal award.
12.
For similar reasons I am unable to uphold Mr.
Ginnane's third contention, namely, that "a presumption
exists that an award stating that particular regulations are
to apply conveys the intention that they will apply to confer
rights and impose duties upon the parties to the award" -—-
seeking to rely upon a statement by Smithers J. in McManus'
Case (supra at p. 380) that such a presumption existed.
However, it must be recalled that the apprenticeships
concerned in that case had been entered into under the
provisions of the award itself - not under any State
apprenticeship provisions. If the view had been adopted that
the clause merely preserved the operation of the State
regulations as State law and did not incorporate them into
the Federal award, then there would have been no prescription
as to the rights or obligations of the apprentices by either
the State regulations or by the Federal award; in other words
their conditions of employment would not have been prescribed
by any industrial authority, State or Federal. In the
circumstances of that case it is not surprising that Smithers
d. spoke in terms of a presumption but no such presumption
applies to the construction of the award in the present
proceedings.
Mr. Ginnane's fourth contention was based upon the
existence in the Act of 5. 52. That section was in the
following terms in 1967 when the award was made :-
"In determining an industrial dispute in which the
rates of pay or conditions of employment applying
to apprentices in an industry are in question, the
13.
Commission shall take into consideration any scheme
of apprenticeship provided by or under the law of
any State or Territory."
He submitted that "the incorporation of such schemes in
Federal Awards is particularly likely in the area of
apprenticeship.
In my opinion the terms of that section do not
assist the applicant; plainly an award may "take into
account" an apprenticeship scheme either by preserving the
operation of State law or by incorporating the State law into
the Federal award (cf. the "two views" referred to by Spicer
C.J. in McManus Case - at p. 375). It may be noted that the
Predecessor of that section (the terms of which did not
differ in any material respect from 5. 52) was referred to by
Dr. Foenander in "Industrial Regulation in Australia" (1947)
in the following passage (at p. 143) :-
"The Commonwealth itself has, under the
Constitution, no direct legislative power in this
field, and the Court, in making provision in its
awards, has been compelled to lean heavily on the
State apprenticeship institutions. Indeed, Section
25C of the Act specifically directs the Court,
2... to take into consideration any scheme of
apprenticeship provided by or under any State law,
see. the Court usually prescribes that State
regulation governing apprenticeship shall apply as
if incorporated in the award, to the extent that it
is not inconsistent with the provisions of the
award itself."
The award under consideration in the present proceedings did
not contain that usual prescription that State reguiation
14,
governing apprenticeship shall apply "as if incorporated in
the award".
The regulations placed in evidence included (A) the
Apprenticeship (General Regulations 1970, as amended by the
Apprenticeship (General) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 1978,
made under the Apprenticeship Act 1958 (Vic.) (B) the
Apprenticeship (Carpentry and Joinery Trades) Regulations
1968, made under that Act and (C) the Industrial Training
{Carpentry and Joinery Trades Apprenticeship) (Amendment)
Regulations 1977, made under the Industrial Training Act 1975
(Vic.), which amended the Apprenticeship (Carpentry and
Joinery Trades) Regulations 1968 as amended. Having regard
to the conclusion already expressed as to the construction of
clause E35 Part III, it is not necessary for me to consider
whether the 1967 Federal award (assuming, contrary to the
opinion already expressed, that it incorporated the
"Regulations of the Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria"),
also incorporated the regulations made by the
Governor~in-Council in 1970 and in later years after the
Apprenticeship Commission of Victorza had ceased to exist.
Nor is it necesary to consider whether all of those
regulations - and, if not, then precisely what parts of them
- were to "apply to apprentices" in Victoria as if
incorporated into the award. In this connexion interesting
questions might arise as to whether an apprentice would be
committing a breach of the award if he failed to observe the
requirements of the Regulations that he "shall enrol and
15.
attend ... classes for instruction", "shall attend punctually
at the time appointed .." and " shall be diligent and behave
in a decorous manner while in the school or class".
Another difficulty facing the applicant was that
the regulations referred to in (B) and (C) in the preceding
Paragraph (even if they were incorporated into the award) did
not prescribe minimum weekly rates of pay to be paid to
apprentices in the joinery trade in the State of Victoria;
the regulations provided for rates of wages as a percentage
of "the wage rate and the tool allowance prescribed from time
to time for the classification "Joiner (as defined) in Part
II" of the Determination of the Carpenters Board made under
the Labour and Industry Act 1958 (Wic.). Accordingly, the
applicant's contention is necessarily that the Federal award
in 1967 imposed a legally enforceable duty on each employer
to pay to his apprentices rates of pay which would be fixed
from time to time by a State Wages Board in meetings in which
the employer could not be heard.
In the light of the conclusion already expressed as
to the construction of clause E35 Part ITI, it is not
necesary for me to express any concluded opinion as to
whether the Commissioner, in making an award in settlement of
a dispute under the Act, had power to require employers to
pay to their apprentices in Victor2za (a) rates of pay which
-had been determined not by him but by an authority under
State law and (b) whatever rates of pay that authority might
fix in the future. Apparently in McManus' Case it was not
16.
argued that the Commissioner had no power to insert such a
provision in an award.
In the present proceedings the applicant, in his
written summary of submissions, contended that a "provision
of a Federal Award may incorporate or render enforceable
under the Award, State Regulations as they are from time to
time. John Heine & Son Ltd. v Pickard (1921) 29 C.L.R. 592;
McManus v General Electric Co. of Australia Ltd. (1972) 18
F.L.R. 374; Australian Tramway Employees' Association v
Commissioner for Road Transport and Tramways (N.S.W.) (1935)
53 C.L.R. 90, i111.". The applicant's submission, in my
opinion, is not established by those authorities; they
included an obiter dictum of Evatt and McTiernan JJ. in the
Australian Tramways Employeees' case (supra at p. 111) that
"We do not accept the argument that clause 35 is
bad because it works a delegation of the arbitral
power to the State Legislature. This is not a case
of delegation at all."
The dictum may well be explicable on the basis of the meaning
of the particular clause in the context of the award and its
resultant legal effect. On any view the clause did not
operate to allow the State Legislature to fix or determine
wage rates or other conditions of employment for the
employees concerned and, accordingly, it is not suprising
that it was described as "not a case of delegation at ail".
In the other cases cited, the courts did not have to consider
the validity of the award provisions because no question was
17.
Yaised as to whether a federal arbitrator had power to
incorporate in an award State regulations to be made at some
unspecified future date, including a date after the
expiration of the period of operation of the award, i.e. ata
time when it is no longer "the will of the arbitrator which
now gives force to his settlement of the dispute" - per Full
High Court in T.A. Robinson & Sons Pty. Ltd. v Haylor (1957)
97 C.L.R. 177 at 184.
It does not appear to me to be clear beyond
argument that the Commissioner's power to hear and determine
an industrial dispute by arbitration includes the power to
Make an award incorporating rates fixed not by the
Commissioner, nor by any State regulations "incorporated"
into the award but fixed by a State Wages Board, which rates
have themselves been notionally "adopted" by the State
regulation before they have been fixed by the Wages Board.
However, it may be that the Carpenters and Joiners Award 1967
was within the conciliation powers of the Conciliation and
Arbitration Commission because the award was made "in terms
agreed" upon by the parties, following upon "a long series of
conferences in the final stages of which the Commission
participated at the parties' request" (see 117 C.A.R. 14 at
p. 14-15 - set out more fully later in these reasons).
if the opinion already expressed, that clause E35
Part III, construed in its context, merely preserved the
operation of the regulations as State law, is not correct,
then in my opinion the sub-clause is not free from ambiguity.
18.
In those circumstances, although extrinsic evidence cannot be
admitted to add to or to subtract from its terms nor to vary
those terms, evidence is admissible of a statement made
jointly by both parties at the time of the agreement,
explaining the meaning of the language used by both parties;
such evidence is admissible in order to ensure that the
language used is construed in such a way as to reveal "the
real mind" of the parties. Chitty on Contracts (24th ed.,
(1977), Vol. 1, p. 343-4, para. 751) states :-
"(e) Evidence to Explain the Written Agreement
Generally. Although extrinsic evidence cannot be
admitted to vary or contradict the written
agreement, it is admissible in some circumstances
to explain it. The rule on this subject was stated
by Tindal C.J. in Shore v Wilson (1842) 9Cl. &
Fin. 355, 565.
',... The true interpetation, however, of
every instrument being manifestly that
which will make the instrument speak the
intention of the party at the time it was
made, it has always been considered an
exception, or perhaps, to speak more
precisely, not so much an exception fron,
as a corollary to, the general rule above
stated, that where any doubt arises upon
the true sense and meaning of the words
themselves, or any difficulty as to their
application under the surrounding
circumstances, the sense and meaning of
the language may be investigated and
ascertained by evidence dehors the
instrument itself; for both reason and
common sense agree that by no other means
can the language of the instrument he
made to speak the real mind of the
party.'
Extrinsic evidence of this sort does not usurp the
authority of a written instrument. It is the
instrument which operates. The extrinsic evidence
does no more than assist its operation, by
assigning a definite meaning to terms capable of
such explanation or by pointing out and connecting
them with the proper subject-matter. Thorpe v
19.
Brumfitt (1873) L.R. 8 Ch.App. 650; Johnstone v
Holdway £19631 1 90.5. 601; The Shannon Ltd. v
Venner Ltd. £19651] Ch. 682."
At the hearing before these proceedings were
referred to a Full Court, Mr. Ginnane very properly placed
before the Court certain material as to the circumstances in
which the award was made, notwithstanding that in his
submission it was not permissible for the Court to have
recourse to that material in construing the award. Before
the Full Court that submission was renewed, reliance being
Placed upon T.A. Robinson & Sons Pty. Ltd. v Haylor (supra at
pp. 183-184; Life Insurance Co,. of Aust. Ltd. v Phillips
(1925) 36 C.L.R. 60 and Re Tugboat Industry Award (1976) 46
F.L.R. 444. In my opinion the applicant's submission is not
supported by those authorities and is is inconsistent with
the dictum of Tindal C.J. in Shore v Wilson cited by Chitty
(supra).
The material tendered showed, amongst other things,
that on 5 January, 1967, Mr. Commissioner Matthews, when
making the award the subject of the present proceedings,
issued a decision which included the following passage
(reported in 117 C.A.R. 13 at p. 14-15, 16) :-
"After a long series of conferences in the final
stages of which the Commission participated at the
parties' request, the two organizations of
employees representing carpenters and joiners have
now sought that the Commission make a new award for
such employees in the States of Victoria, South
Australia and Tasmania in terms agreed on with
employers concerned.
20.
The parties desire, and the Commission agrees that
it is desirable, that the new award should he
prefaced by the following statements :-
(5) As to apprentices in Victoria, it
will be noted from Part III of
Clause 836, for instance, that
regulation of their conditions has
been left to the State authority for
the present. The rights of the
parties on this matter are reserved,
however."
It should be explained that Part III of clause E35 is in
identical terms with "Part III of clause B36" which is
referred to in paragraph (5) above. As to the meaning of the
word "prefaced", the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives
one of the meanings of the word "preface" as: "II.1. The
introduction to a literary work, usu. explaining its subject,
purpose, scope and method."
In my Opinion the passage quoted from the decision
of the Commissioner, {reported in the Commonwealth
Arbitration Report on the page immediately preceding the
award) removes any ambiguity and makes it clear that Part III
of clause £35 merely preserved the operation of the
regulations as State law. In this connexion the following
aspects of the statement should be noted :-
(a) The parties, who had reached agreement on the
terms of the award, and the Commissioner, who
was making the award, all considered "that it is
Gesirable" that the award should be "prefaced"
eon ee ee
{b)
(c)
(a)
(e)
2i.
by the statement; that unanimous view appears to
me to be quite inconsistent with any intention
that the award was intended to "incorporate" the
State regulations into the award - particularly
having regard to the terms of paragraph (5).
It explicitly stated that the "regulation" of
the conditions of Victorian apprentices "has
been left to the State authority ..". In other
words the Commonwealth Commission would not
determine those matters; instead the
"regulation" of them would be performed by "the
State authority" to whom such matters had been
deliberately "left" by agreement of the parties.
The leaving of the "regulation" of the
apprentices' conditions to the State authority
Was expressly stated as being "for the present".
At some future date there might be "regulation"
by the Commonwealth Commission because the
"yights of the parties on this matter are
reserved". However, it is clear that "for the
present" the parties jointly intended that there
should be "regulation" by the State authority.
The express reservation of the "rights of the
parties on this matter" supports the view that
there was no intention to incorporate the State
regulations into the award. If the regulations
had been incorporated into the award, then any
such reservation of rights would have been quite
22.
unnecessary because all parties would have had
the right to apply at any time for a variation
of the award.
In my opinion, even if the clause be ambiguous, the
statements by which the award is "prefaced" are unequivocal
and make it clear that Part 111 of clause E35 in this award,
unlike the sub-clause in the Metal Trades award, was intended
to preserve the operation of State law as State law and was
not intended to incorporate the State law in the award. It
was suggested that little or no assistance could be obtained
from the preface in 1967 because clause E35 Part 111 was in
the same terms as that inthe previous award; however,
reference to the transcript of the proceedings leading to
that previous award, which is contained in the applicant's
reference book, supports the opinion that the intention was
to merely preserve the operation of the regulations as State
law.
Accordingly, in my opinion no breaches of the award
occurred and both applications should be dismissed.
ten, . ' twenly - one
' keely
| £ Suar AES.
oe ee
IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA )
VICTORIA DISTRICT REGISTRY Nos. V 20 and 21 of 1983
INDUSTRIAL DIVISION
BETWEEN
IAN SEYMOUR
Applicant
AND:
STAWELL TIMBER INDUSTRIES
PROPRIETARY LIMITED
(RECEIVER AND MANAGER
APPOINTED)
Respondent
CORAM: NORTHROF, KEELY and GRAY dd.
DATE: STH JULY, 1985
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
GRAY J.
Each of these matters involves a series of claims for
alleged breaches or non-observances of an award, pursuant to s.
119 of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 ("the Act").
The award concerned is the Carpenters and Joiners Award 1967
("the Award"), an award originally made by the Commonwealth
Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, and subsequently varied
by the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission.
-2-
In matter VoNo. 20 of 1983, the breaches or
non-observances are alleged to have occurred in relation to one
Timothy John Hughes. In matter V No. 21 of 1983, the employee
concerned is one Geoffrey Miller. Each of Mr. Hughes and Mr.
Miller was an apprentice, alleged to have been employed by the
Respondent at its premises at Lake Road, Stawell in the State of
Victoria, performing joinery work.
Each of the applications alleges that on various dates
the Respondent did "Fail to pay all wages, allowances and other
monies...due to the said employee pursuant to Clause E35 Part III
and the Industrial Training (Carpentry and Joinery Trades
Apprenticeship) (Amendment) Regulations 1977 not later than the
time of cessation of work on that day contrary to the provisions
of Clause E30 of the Award". In each case, the first date
alleged is 29th June 1978, the last is 7th September 1978, and
the other dates alleged fall at weekly intervals between these
two dates.
The trial of each of the matters began before Keely J.
on ist October 1984. The matters were heard together. Mr.
Ginnane of counsel appeared for the applicant, who is an
inspector appointed pursuant to s. 125 of the Act, and a person
designated pursuant to s. 29(1)(b) of Act No. 33 of 1983 to take
the place of the Industrial Relations Bureau in the proceedings.
There was no appearance on behalf of the respondent. The court
had previously been informed by the solicitor for the respondent
that the respondent could not meet its legal costs and did not
wish to appear in the proceedings. After hearing the evidence
-3-
and submissions on behalf of the applicant, Keely J. referred the
Matter to a Full Court, pursuant tos. 118C of the Act. This
order was made on 19th November 1984.
The evidence which was led before Keely J., and to which
the Full Court may have regard by virtue of ss. 118C(2) of the
Act, established the following facts. Each of Mr. Hughes and Mr.
Miller entered into an indenture of apprenticeship with the
respondent for the trade of carpentry and joinery. The term of
each apprenticeship commenced on 13th January 1977. Mr. Hughes
was required to complete a four year apprenticeship, whereas Mr.
Miller's term was three years and six months, he having obtained
six months' credit by virtue of having achieved a higher
educational standard at school than did Mr. Hughes. Each
indenture was in a form prescribed under the Industrial Training
Act 1975 (Vic.). Clause 7(a) of each indenture provided as
follows:
"7.1 It is hereby agreed and declared between the
parties hereto
(a) That this indenture shall not be cancelled except
in accordance with the provisions of the Industrial
Training Act 1975."
On 12th June 1978, Desmond Livingstone Nicholl and James
Peter Grant, jointly and severally, were appointed as receiver
and manager of the property of the respondent. On the following
Monday, 19th June 1978, a number of employees of the respondent
were called together by a Mr. Knights, the construction manager
of the respondent. These employees included Mr. Hughes and Mr.
Miller, each of whom was responsible to Mr. Knights in his
- 4 -
employment. Mr. Knights told these employees that no work was
available for them and that their contracts of employment would
have to be terminated.
Thereafter, each of Mr. Hughes and Mr. Miller attended
the premises of the respondent on each day on which he would have
been obliged to work, seeking work. Each also attended school
when required under the terms of his indenture. No payment was
made in respect of any time until 4th September 1978, when Mr.
Hughes and Mr. Miller were again given work by the respondent.
On the applicant's calculations, the respondent failed
to pay Mr. Hughes sums totalling $919.02 and Mr. Miller = sums
totalling $1,152.12. The greater amount claimed in respect of
Mr. Miller is due to his being entitled to a higher rate of pay,
by reason of his six months' credit for additional educational
qualifications.
At all relevant times, Mr. Miller was a member of the
Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia, an organization
of employees registered pursuant to the Act. It was conceded hy
counsel for the applicant that Mr. Hughes was not at any relevant
time a member of any organization registered under the Act. The
respondent was, at all relevant times, bound by the Award, by
reason of its membership of the Victorian Chamber of
Manufactures, an organization of employers registered pursuant to
the Act.
The Award contains five divisions. Division Ais of
-~ 5 -
general application. Each of the other divisions relates to a
specific type or area of carpentry and joinery work. Division E
relates to joinery shops. Clause E30, which is headed "Payment
of Wages", provides, in part, as follows:
"(a) All wages, allowances and other moneys due
shall be paid not later than the time of cessation of
work on Thursday of each working week or otherwise by
mutual arrangement."
Clause E35 is headed "Junior Labour". Part I is headed
"Unapprenticed, South Australia". Part Ir is headed
"Apprentices, South Australia". It commences with the words:
"This Division shall not apply to the employment of
apprenticed carpenters or joiners in South Australia
except to the extent prescribed in the sub-clauses of
this Part."
Sub-clause (e) of Part II is as follows:
"(e) Except where inconsistent with the South
Australian Apprentices Act 1950-1971, the general
provisions of this Division shall apply to apprentices
employed on work within the scope of this Division."
This sub-clause is followed immediately by the heading "Part III
- Apprentices, Victoria". The following words appear under that
heading:
"Except where inconsistent with this Division, the
Regulations of the Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria
shall apply to apprentices in that State."
At the heart of this matter is the question of
construction of clause E35 part III. The central issue is
whether that clause makes enforceable under the Act State
legislation dealing with apprentices. Several difficulties arise
-6-
in the resolution of this issue.
A body known as the Apprenticeship Commission of
Victoria was created under the legislation of the State of
Victoria as it existed prior to 1975. This legislation was last
consolidated in the Apprenticeship Act 1958 (Vic.). Section 7 of
that Act set up a board of seven members to be called the
Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria. The Industrial Training
Act 1975 (Vic.) repealed the Apprenticeship Act 1958. Section 7
of that Act established a ten member board known as _ the
Industrial Training Commission of Victoria. The functions of
this Commission were Similar to those of the former
Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria.
Neither of these Commissions had power to make
regulations. Each had a power and a duty to "prepare draft
regulations for submission to the Governor in Council for or with
respect to" a number of matters, including forms of indentures of
apprenticeship and rates of pay for apprentices. Reference
should be made to s. 44(1)(i) and (k) of the Apprenticeship Act
1958, and s. 56(1)(h) and (m) of the Industrial Training Act
1975. Each of those Acts empowered the Governor in Council to
make regulations for or with respect toa number of matters,
including matters the subject of draft regulations submitted by
the relevant commission. Reference should be made to s. 45(a) of
the Apprenticeship Act 1958 and s. 57(a) of the Industrial
Training Act 1975. Section 2 of the Industrial Training Act
1975, which repealed earlier legislation, contained a saving
clause in respect of all persons things and circumstances
-7J-
appointed or created by or under the repealed legislation, and a
particular provision that the repeal should "not disturb the
continuity of status operation or effect of any...regulation".
Certain regulations made by the Governor in Council were
tendered in evidence before Keely Jd. The first was the
Apprenticeship (General) Regulations 1970, d@escribed as having
been made under the Apprenticeship Act 1958. These regulations
dealt, among other things, with the employment of apprentices and
the forms of indentures of apprenticeship. Next there was
tendered the Apprenticeshi General Amendment No. 2)
Regulations 1973, also made under the Apprenticeship Act 1958,
which amended the form of indenture of apprenticeship prescribed
by the earlier regulations. Also tendered were the
Apprenticeship (Carpentry and Joinery Trades) Requilations 1968,
also made under the Apprenticeship Act 1958. The only
regulations tendered which were made under the Industrial
Training Act 1975 were the Industrial Training (Carpentry and
Joinery Trades Apprenticeship) (Amendment) Requlations i977.
These described the Apprenticeship (Carpentry and Joinery Trades)
Regulations 1968 as "the Principal Regulations". They contained
certain amendments of those 1968 regulations.
Clause 8 of the 1968 regulations fixed the minimum wage
rates for apprentices of various kinds involved in carpentry,
joinery and carpentry and joinery. The 1977 regulations
substituted for the earlier clause 8 a new clause 8, part of
which is set out:
"8. (1) Subject to sub-reguliation (2) the minimum
- 8 -
weekly rates of wages to be paid to apprentices in the
trades shall be the under-mentaoned percentages of the
aggregate of the following constituents:-
(a) for those apprentices engaged in 'construction
work' the weekly base rate, BO per cent of
the special allowance, the industry
allowance the tool allowance prescribed
from time to time for such class of work in
Part I. of the Determination of the
Carpenters Board, made under the Labour and
Industry Act 1958 as amended from time to
time;
(b) for those apprentices engaged in 'shopfitting
work' the wage rate, the industry allowance
and the tool allowance prescribed from time
to time for the classification 'Carpenter
engaged in shopfitting work (as defined)'
in Part If. of the aforesaid Determination;
and
(c) for those apprentices engaged in work not
subject to paragraphs (a) or (5b) of this
sub-regulation the wage rate and the tool
allowance prescribed from time to time for
the classification 'Joiner (as defined)' in
Part II. of the aforesaid Determination,
vizi-
Year of Apprenticeship Percentage
ist
ist 3 months .. .. 35
Thereafter ae ae 45
2nd we ae we 55
3rd ae ae oe 75
4th as oe 8s 30
The wage rates shall be calculated to the
nearest 5c, but where there is a reminder
exceeding 2c, the rate shall be taken to
the next highest 5c};
(ad) for the purposes of this sub-regulation,
'construction work' and 'shopfitting work'
shall mean construction work and
shopfitting work respectively as defined as
at the 18th June, 1976 in the Determination
of the Carpenters Board made under the
Labour and Industry Act 1958 as amended
from time to time."
Also in evidence was the determination of the Carpenters
Board (No. 2 of 1978), a determination made under the Labour and
-9-
Industry Act 1958 (Vic.). Part II of this determination
prescribed, among other things, rates of pay. In clause 2 of
part II, there is found a rate for "Joiner (as defined)",
specified as $157.60 per week. The amounts fixed by the
applicant as those which have not been paid to Mr. Hughes and Mr.
Miller by the respondent have been calculated as the appropriate
percentage of this rate, the percentage being ascertained from
the table in clause 8(1)(c) set out above.
The first question which arises is whether the words
"the Regulations of the Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria" in
clause E35 part III of the Award are apt to apply to regulations
made by the Governor in Council under the Apprenticeship Act
1958. If a strict construction of those words were adopted, so
that they could only apply to regulations made by the
Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria itself, the clause itself
would be meaningless. The Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria
had no power to make and did not make any regulations itself. If
such a strict construction were adopted, the meaningless clause
might be severed from the Award; other provisions of the Award,
presently intended not to bind employers in relation ta
apprentices, might then be regarded as so binding, to the
exclusion of the provisions of Victorian law. This is plainly
not the result intended by the maker of the Award. A court
should strive to give meaning to words in a document, whether the
document is a legislative instrument or a contract: Fawcett
Properties Ltd. v. Buckingham County Council [£19613 A.C. 636, and
Cuqden Rutile (No. 2) Pty. Ltd. v. Chalk £19751 A.C. 520, at p.
536. To resolve a latent ambiguity such as this, it is
~ 10 -
legitimate for the court to have regard to the obvious intention
of the maker of the Award. Clearly, that intention was to refer
to regulations made under the laws of the State of Victoria and
governing the terms and conditions of the employment of
apprentices in the relevant industry. The regulations made by
the Governor in Council under the Apprenticeship Act 1958 answer
this description. Nor is there difficulty in construing the
words of the Award as applicable to those regulations. The
probability is that regulations of the kinds which were tendered
were in fact drafted by the Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria
and submitted to the Governor in Council, pursuant to the duty of
the Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria to do so. In addition,
an the exercise of its powers under the Apprenticeship Act 1958,
the Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria was required to
administer the regulations. For these reasons, in ordinary
language, the description of the regulations as "the Regulations
of the Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria" is appropriate.
The next question which arises is whether, as a matter
of construction, clause E35 part III applies to regulations made
after the making of the Award. All of the regulations tendered
in evidence were made after lst March 1967, the date of operation
of the Award, by virtue of clause A3 thereof. In Wright v. T.I.L
Services Pty. Ltd. £19563 S.R. (N.S.W.) 413, the Full Court of
the Supreme Court of New South Wales dealt with a reguiation
which required that "electrical devices, including wiring and
switches, shall comply with the relevant rules of the Standards
Association of Australia relating to electrical equipment in
hazardous locations...". At page 422, Walsh J, with whom Herron
-~-ll-
J. agreed on this point, said:
"Secondly, it was urged that the reference in the
paragraph might be eather to the rules of the Standards
Association as in existence when the regulation was
promulgated or to those rules as in existence from time
to time thereafter. In my opinion, having regard to the
nature and purpose of the provisions of reg. 35 and to
the subject matter with which it deals, it is
sufficiently clear that the obligation imposed is that
the workroom should comply with the requirement that the
electrical devices shall be in accordance with the rules
which are current at the time when the product to which
reg. 35 refers is being manufactured, repaired,
manipulated or used in a workroom."
I respectfully adopt this approach to the construction of the
Award in the present case. It is widely understood that wages
and conditions of work are not matters of static prescription.
In the circumstances in which an award is made governing the
terms and conditions of employment of persons, it would be
strange if the maker of the award, in examining the terms and
conditions of one class of those employees, should choose to have
them frozen in the terms of whatever regulations happen to be in
force at the date of coming into operation of the award. Under
s. 52 of the Act, the Australian Conciliaton and Arbitration
Commission has a duty to take into consideration any scheme of
apprenticeship provided by or under the law of any State or
Territory. In the exercise of this duty, the Commission would no
doubt be aware of the fact that State regulations which
constituted such a scheme were amended from time to time.
Subsequent history also indicates an intention to refer to future
regulations in clause E35 part III. From time to time the Award
has been varied in many respects, most notably to provide for
increases in wages. The fact that clause E35 part III has been
left untouched when each of those variations have been made is
- 12 -
indicative of an intention by the arbitrator that it should be
construed as referring to the regulations as amended from time to
time. I am therefore of the view that the phrase "the
Regulations of the Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria" refers
' to such regulations as amended from time to time.
The further question arises whether this ambulatory
effect of clause E35 part III is sufficiently broad to include
regulations made under the Industrial Training Act 1975, after
the Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria was abolished. Having
regard to my conclusions as to the proper construction of clause
E35 part III, I have no difficulty in holding that these
regulations are included, as a matter of construction, in the
words of the clause in the Award. The Industrial Training
Commission of Victoria was the direct successor of the
Appenticeship Commission of Victoria; it took over the functions
| of the former Commission. To describe it in ordinary language as
| "the Apprenticeship Commission of Victoria" would not be
inappropriate in the circumstances.
It is now necessary to confront the central issue in
this case. This issue was posed by Spicer C.J. in McManus v.
General Electric Co. of Australia Ltd. (1971) 18 F.L.R. 374, at
pages 375-6, with reference to the clause of the award there in
question, as follows:
"It seems to me that there are two views which can
be taken as to the meaning and intent of cl. 7 (q).
One is that it operates to indicate the field in
which the Federal award applies and avoids the operation
of that award in such a way as to override the State
laws to the extent indicated in the clause. On this
- 13-
view the award is not to be taken as covering the whole
field but preserves the operation of State law as State
law save to the extent that State law directly collides
with the provisions of the award."
In that case, a majority of the Commonwealth Industrial Court
held that a clause in an award which provided that State statutes
and regulations relating to apprentices "shall operate" in their
respective States incorporated those State statutes and
regulations by reference into the award, and made them
enforceable under the Act. The court saw some importance in the
fact that the award considered in that case created its own
scheme of apprenticeship; if that scheme had been construed as
covering the field, no State law could have had any effect in
relation to it. A provision that the State law was to "operate"
was regarded as giving to the State law an operation which it
could not otherwise have had. No such scheme is set up by the
Award in this case, but it does not follow from the absence of
such a scheme that clause E35 part III of the Award merely
preserves the Victorian regulations from the operation of 5. 109
of the Constitution.
There can be little doubt that, in the exercise of its
power of arbitration to settle a dispute under the Act, the
Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission has power to
incorporate by reference into an award the terms of another
document, legislative or otherwise. The existence of this power
was recognized 1n McManus. Joske J., in dissent, was concerned
about incorporation into an award of "possible future provisions
of an entirely unknown character". It must be remembered,
however, that an award is capable of variation under s. 59 of the
—~ 14 -
Act. If the the legislative provisions of a State, having been
adopted, are amended in a way which does not constitute a
satisfactory settlement of the dispute settled by an award, that
award can be varied to exclude the operation of such provisions,
or to insert provisions which are regarded as a proper settlement
of the dispute. The duty imposed by s. 52 of the Act, to have
regard to any scheme of apprenticeship provided by or under the
law of any State or Territory, will tend to produce a situation
in which the provisions of such a scheme are kept under review,
and the award is maintained ina satisfactory state. Other cases
in which the power to incorporate State law by reference into an
award has been recognized are John Heine & Son Limited v. Pickard
(1921) 29 C.L.R. 592, especially at page 595 per Starke J.,
Australian Tramway Employees Association v. Commissioner for Road
Transport and Tramways (New South Wales) (1935) 53 C.L.R. 90,
especially at page 111 per Evatt and McTiernan JJ., and Municipal
Officers' Association v. Shire of Yalgoo (1978) 45 F.L.R. 257.
Some discussion took place as to whether a provision
incorporating by reference existing and future State legislative
provisions on a particular subject could fall within the ambit of
a dispute leading to the creation of an award under the Act. I
see no difficulty about this as an abstract question. It is
entirely a matter of determining the ambit of the dispute in a
particular case. In this case, the Award was based on two
disputes, given the designations C No. 1553 and C No. 1720 of
1965. The first of these disputes resulted from the failure of
the employers served to accede to the demands made in a letter of
demand and log of claims from the Amalgamated Society of
~ 15 -
Carpenters and Joiners of Australia. The second dispute resulted
in a similar way from a letter of demand and log of claims served
by the Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia. The
disputes were joined by the Commonwealth Conciliation and
Arbitration Commission, and the Award was made in part settlement
of each of them. Each letter of demand and log of claims sought
the terms and conditions contained in it in respect of all
employees of each employer served, whether or not they were
members of the organization serving the log. The log of claims
in matter C No. 1720 of 1965 was in the form of a draft award.
It contained a demand that, except where inconsistent with the
award, the regulations of the Apprenticeship Commission of
Victoria, New South Wales or Tasmania as the case may be should
apply to apprentices in those States. There is some evidence
that this demand may have been amended after service of the log
of claims and replaced by a demand that the apprenticeship
provisions of the proposed award should not apply to the
employment of any apprentice in any trade proclaimed in the State
of Victoria to be an apprenticeship trade under the provisions of
the Victorian Apprenticeship Act 1958. Whichever of these was
the demand made, the failure by employers to accede to it plainly
created a dispute which was capable of heing settled by the
Arbitration Commission in any of a number of ways. One of these
ways was to make an award in relation to Victoria in the terms of
clause E35 part III of the Award. Such provision clearly fell
within the ambit of the dispute.
The question whether the State regulations are given
force and effect as part of the Award, therefore, is one of
- 16-
construction. In McManus, at p. 380, Smithers J. said:
"Bn award is an instrument settling an industrial
dispute between parties by prescribing the terms and
conditions which are to govern their future
relationships.
The presumption is that a term of an award saying
that certain statutes and regulations are to operate
expresses the intention to prescribe that they shall
operate to confer rights and impose duties upon the
parties to the award."
With all respect to his Honour, I have serious doubts whether
such a presumption exists. In my view, the question of
construction should be resolved upon the terms of the award in
each case, looking at the instrument as a whole, but without any
pre-disposition as to its effect. If this approach is taken in
the present case, there are two factors which weigh most heavily.
The first is that the word "apply", which is used in clause E35
part III, is used in a number of other clauses in the Award in
circumstances which make it clear that what is being "applied" is
being given force and effect. Examples are clause El (which
applies divisions A and E of the Award to all persons employed in
the classifications of joinery work defined), clauses Ell and E12
(which apply certain specific provisions to employers in
individual States in circumstances of power rationing), clause
E29 (which applies certain provisions in relation to sick leave),
clause E31 (which applies certain provisions to the termination
of employment) and clause E38 (which applies certain provisions
to employees in Victoria with respect to accident pay). Part of
clause E16 (b) provides that "this sub-clause shall not apply" in
certain cases. It is true that there are other provisions of the
Award which do incorporate by reference the provisions of the
- 17 -
National Building Trades Construction Award 1975 and certain
provisions of State laws, and which use more specific wording
than the word "apply" to accomplish this. In their context,
however, these provisions are not surprising. They do not
detract from the construction of the word "apply" in clause E35
part III, any more than did similar inconsistent provisions
detract from the construction of the word "operate" in the clause
considered in the McManus case.
The second important factor 1s that, when the framers of
the Award did seek specifically to exclude the operation of the
Award in a particular State, they did so with great clarity. The
provisions of clause E35 part II, to which I have referred
earlier, indicate that the drafting technique of specifically
excluding the Award from operation in relation to some particular
subject in a State, so as to preserve the operation of State
laws, was a technique known to the framers of the Award. The
proximity of this clause to clause E35 part III suggests strongly
that the intention was not simply to exclude the operation of the
Award in relation to apprentices in Victoria, but to incorporate
into it those provisions of the law of Victoria which related to
that subject.
Counsel for the applicant referred the Court to the
history of the Award, and particularly to the ancestra
provisions of clause E35 part IIt. His contention was that an
examination of the history threw no real light on the meaning of
the clause. The first award seems to have been made in 1928. It
contained, in clause 198, its own scheme of apprenticeship.
~ 18 -
Specific provision was made that "this clause shall not apply to
the employment of apprentices in New South Wales." There was
also a provision that:
"Either the Union or an employer may apply to the Court
for a variation of this clause consequent on or pursuant
to any recommendation of the Apprenticeship Commission,
Victoria, or any legislation of that or any other State
where respondents are bound by this award."
Plainly, employers of apprentices in Victoria were then bound by
this Federal scheme. A further award made in 1946 contained some
provisions relating to apprentices, including a provision:
"This clause shall not apply to the employment of
apprentices in New South Wales or in such parts of
Victoria in which the Apprenticeship Commission
appointed under the Apprenticeship Act for 1927 is
operating."
Plainly, the terms and conditions of employment of apprentices in
those parts of Victoria were not governed by that award. In
1953, the clause which is now clause E35 part III was first
introduced. If it had been intended simply to exclude Victoria
from the provisions of the award relating to apprentices, the
historical precedent for such a clause existed. The fact that it
was not adopted tends to support the submission that clause E35
part III and its immediate predecessor were intended to give
force and effect to the provisions of the Victorian lawas part
of the award.
Attention was also directed toa preface to the Award,
which was apparently agreed by all parties, and which appears in
the decision of Mr. Commissioner Matthews in which the Award was
made. See (1967) 117 C.A.R. 13, at pages 15 and 16. Clause 5 of
-¢
- 19 -
this preface is as follows:
"As to apprentices in Victoria, it will be noted from
Part III. of clause B36, for instance, that
regulation of their conditions has been left to the
State authority for the present. The rights of the
parties on this matter are reserved, however."
Mr. Ginnane contended that it was not permissible for the Court
to look at such a preface, even a preface to a consent award,
which preface was agreed to by the parties. He relied on T.A.
Robinson & Sons Pty. Ltd. v. Haylor (1957) 97 C.L.R. 177,
especially at pages 183-4. An examination of that passage, which
is in the judgment of the High Court of Australia, tends to
suggest that it was permissible to look at the reasons expressed
by a commissioner for failing to make any provision in an award
for a particular subject. The Court did decide that such
expression of reasons did not show that the Commissioner intended
to cover the field of that subject by excluding State law from
operating with respect to it. There are difficulties in deciding
whether it is proper to look at the reasons of an arbitrator in
announcing his decision on the making of an award. In the
ordinary case when an award is being construed, the personnel
Manager of the employer and the shop steward representing the
employees will not be expected to have available to ther
documents such as the reasons for decision of a commissioner, or
a statement of the parties prefacing an award. On the other
hand, organizations of employers and employees will normally have
access to such materials, and those who find themselves charged
with the task of interpreting awards in relation to particular
matters arising in the work place will normally turn to suctr.
organizations for advice and support. It is well recognized that
- 20 -
the drafting of documents such as awards 50 as to exclude ail
ambiguity is impossible. If a court is required to face the task
of construing an ambiguous provision in an award, and if the
Means exist of resolving that ambiguity by reference to the
actual expressed intention, either of the arbitrator, or of the
parties in the case of a consent award, it is difficult for the
court to turn its back on such means. I therefore favour the
view that resort should be had to such means as will assist in
ascertaining the intention of the maker or makers of the award,
in the case of an ambiguity.
Regrettably, however, resort to clause 5 of the agreed
preface to the Award in the present case does nothing to resolve
the question. That clause states that the regulation of the
conditions of apprentices in Victoria has been left to the State
authority. This is an accurate statement, whether or not the
result of such regulation is given the force and effect of the
Award by clause E35 part III. On that question, the agreed
preface throws no light at all. The reservation of the rights of
the parties is consistent with the intention that the Australian
Conciliation and Arbitration Commission may be asked to lay down
specific provisions for the terms and conditions of employment of
Victorian apprentices, if the provisions of the regulations,
Which are incorporated by reference into the Award, cease to be
regarded by any party as an adequate settlement of the disputes
settled by the Award. Still less guidance does the preface
provide when it is recognized that clause E35 part III was in the
same terms as the equivalent clause in an award which was being
repealed.
- 21 -
I therefore conclude that the Award itself created an
obligation falling on the respondent to pay to Mr. Hughes and Mr.
Miller each week wages in sums not less than those calculated by
the applicant as being underpaid. It follows that, unless the
contracts of employment of Mr. Hughes and Mr. Miller were validly
terminated by the respondent, this obligation was unfulfilled in
respect of each of the periods the subject of the applications.
The contracts of employment were constituted by the
indentures of apprenticeship in the case of each apprentice.
Those indentures contained clause 7(a) which I have set out
earlier, and which restricted the right of the respondent to
terminate, except insofar as the Industrial Training Act 1975
(Vic.) permitted termination. That Act provides, in s. 28, for
cancellation of indentures of apprenticeship by mutual consent,
and in s. 33 for the cancellation of such indentures by the
Industrial Training Commission of Victoria if, in the opinion of
that Commission there are special circumstances which render such
cancellation desirable. Under s. 35, an apprentice may he
transferred to another employer, with the assignment of the
indentures of that apprenticeship. Ins. 38, there is provision
for the Industrial Training Commission of Victoria to reduce the
working hours and wages of an apprentice, or to suspend or cancel
indentures where an employer is unable to provide sufficient work
for an apprentice. Otherwise, there is no provision for the
termination of the contract of employment. Nothing in the Award
overrides this right of an apprentice to security of employment.
Clause E31 deals with the termination of employment of employees
engaged by the week, and casual employees. Apprentices fall
- 22 -
within neither of these categories. There is no other provision
in division E of the Award for the termination of employment.
In purporting to dismiss Mr. Hughes and Mr. Miller
summarily, the respondent was not performing an act which could
validly lead to the termination of their contracts. Unless,
therefore, Mr. Hughes and Mr. Miller accepted the summary
dismissal as a repudiation of their contracts of employment, and
as bringing those contracts to an end, the contracts continued.
See Turner v. Australasian Coal and Shale Employees Federation
(1984) 55 A.L.R. 635, especially at pages 645-9. It is clear
that neither Mr. Hughes nor Mr. Miller acted in such a way as to
bring about the termination of his contract. By continuing to
attend at the respondent's premises on each working day, seeking
work, and to attend the educational program required by his
indentures of apprenticeship, each of Mr. Hughes and Mr. Miller
demonstrated his intention of keeping the contract on foot.
Insofar as the remuneration payable under the terms of the
regulations incorporated into clause E35 part III was payable in
consideration of readiness and willingness to perform work, each
of Mr. Hughes and Mr. Miller demonstrated such readiness and
willingness by his regular attendances at the respondent's
premises and at school.
In points of defence which were filed on behalf of the
respondent at an early stage of the proceedings, it was asserted
that the respondent was not bound by the Award by operation of
law. The appointment of the receiver and manager on 12th June
1978 was relied upon as bringing about this result. The
- 23-
appointment of a receiver and manager, out of court, does not
automatically terminate contracts of employment of a company by
operation of law. See Griffiths v. Secretary of State for Social
Services £19743 190.B. 468 and James Miller Holdings Ltd. v.
Graham (1978) 3 A.C.L.R. 604. Even the appointment of a receiver
and manager by the court does not determine the contracts of
employment previously entered into by the company; whether such
termination occurs is a question of fact in each case. See
International Harvester Export Company v. International Harvester
Australia Limited [19831 1 V.R. 539. The appointment of the
receiver and manager for the respondent was out of court. If it
were necessary to look at the particular circumstances, the court
does not have available to it the instrument under which the
appointment was effected; the production of that instrument
would be a matter of the evidential onus which would fall upon
the respondent, an onus which the respondent has not attempted to
discharge. So far as the circumstances are known to the court,
they are inconsistent with automatic termination. One week after
the appointment of the receiver and manager, some of the
employees of the respondent were told by one of its officers, to
whom they had been responsible prior to the appointment of the
receiver and manager, that their employment was being terminated
because there was insufficient work available. [In any event, £
have serious doubt whether the appointment of a receiver ance
manager could bring about the termination of a contract of
employment otherwise than in compliance with a relevant Federal
award. There is, however, no need to decide that matter in this
case.
- 24 -
In the absence of any termination of the contracts of
employment of Mr. Hughes and Mr. Miller, the obligation of the
respondent to pay at least the minimum remuneration each week
subsisted. The company is guilty of a breach or non-observance
of the Award in respect of each of Mr. Hughes and Mr. Miller, for
each week in which payment was not made. Section 119(1A) of the
Act requires that, where the court finds that two or more
breaches by the same person of a term of an award have been
committed and those breaches appear to the court to have arisen
out of the course of conduct by that person, those breaches
shall, for the purposes of ss. 119, be treated as constituting a
single breach of that term. Mr. Ginnane conceded that breaches
of the provision of the Award requiring that payment be made on a
particular day each week, which occurred in successive weeks,
were to be regarded as breaches arising out of a course of
conduct by the respondent, In my view, that concession is
correct. It accords with the decisions in Quinn v. Martin (1977)
31 F.L.R. 25, especially at p. 31, Industrial Relations Bureau v.
Hassan (1982) 62 F.L.R. 169, especially at p. 172, and Lynch v.
Buckley Sawmilis Pty. Ltd. (unreported, Federal Court of
Australia, Keely J., 25th October 1984, at pp. 11-12). Mr.
Ginnane contended, however, that the breaches with respect to Mr.
Hughes were to be regarded as having arisen out of a separate
course of conduct from those with respect to Mr. Miller, and that
the Court was required to deal with two breaches under s.
119(1A). The three cases to which I have just referred do not
touch the question whether a separate "course of conduct" exists
when an employer is guilty of identical breaches of the same term
of an award with respect to more than one employee. In Jarrad v.
- 25 -
Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board (1978) 21 A.L.R. 201,
at p. 209, it was held that the standing down of a number of
employees was to be treated as a single breach. In Townsend v.
General Motors-Holden's Ltd. (1981) 50 F.L.R. 355, a single
penalty was imposed in respect of a failure to give proper notice
to two employees of a shut-down. It seems to have been assumed
that the two breaches had arisen out of a single "course of
conduct". In Rowe v. Capital Territory Health Commission (1982)
62 F.L.R. 383, at p. 412, it was held that a "course of conduct"
did not exist in respect of failure to pay proper wages to two
student nurses; the nurses had begun employment in separate
years, and were affected by separate decisions of the employer as
to the manner in which they would be treated. Keely J. expressed
the view that, "Any other breaches in respect of student nurses
enrolled in the 1980 two-year course would have arisen out of the
one course of conduct". This judgment was upheld by a Full Court
on appeal, without discussion of this point. See Rowe v. Capital
Territory Health Commission (1982) 2 I.R. 27. In the present
case, the breaches with respect to each of the apprentices arose
from a single act by the respondent in purporting to dismiss a4
number of its employees. That act, and any failure to pay any
employee which arose from it, is properly described as a course
of conduct, for the purposes of s. 119(1A). The Court 15s,
therefore, obliged to treat the matter as involving one breach.
It is then necessary for the Court to determine the
appropriate penalty to be imposed. The Court has heard nothing
in mitigation of penalty on behalf of the respondent. The facts
as they appear from the evidence warrant a heavy penalty. The
~ 26 -
protective nature of a contract of employment of an apprentice is
well known. The respondent should have been aware that it could
not simply dispense with the services of its apprentices in the
Manner in which it attempted to do so. Even if Mr. Hughes and
Mr. Miller had not been apprentices, summary dismissal of them
would have been inappropriate. The amount of the penalty imposed
should demonstrate the Court's strong disapproval of such
high-handed disregard for the job security and lives of working
people. In my view, a penalty of $800.00 is appropriate.
Mr. Ginnane sought an order under s. 119(3) of the Act
for the payment to Mr. Miller of the amount to which he is
entitled, which has not been paid by the respondent. Plainly,
such an order is appropriate. No similar order was sought with
respect to Mr. Hughes. Mr. Hughes was not at any relevant time a
member of any organization of employees. It was recognized in
Australian Insurance Employees Union v. W.P. Insurance Services
Pty. Ltd. (1982) 42 A.L.R. 598, at p. 607, and Industrial
Relations Bureau v. Hassan (1982) 62 F.L.R. 169, at pp. 173-175,
that s. 119(3) of the Act does not empower the Court to order
payment of wages to an employee who was not at the relevant time
a member of an organization. Such an employee is not "entitled"
to any amount under an award, even though the award may cast on
the employer an obligation to make payments to that employee.
To overcome this problem, Mr. Ginnane suggested that an
order under s. 120 be made, ordering that any penalty imposed by
the Court be paid to Mr. Hughes. The purpose of seeking such an
order was plainly to give to Mr. Hughes an amount of money to
- 27 -
compensate for his lost wages, in circumstances where the Court
cannot directly order those wages to be paid to him. In my view,
the Court should not permit the use of such a device. The legal
obligation remains on the respondent to pay wages to Mr. Hughes.
Tt is true that the Court cannot, under either s. 119(3) or s.
123 of the Act, order the respondent to make those payments. See
the cases to which I have referred earlier, and Leontiades v.
F.T. Manfield Pty. Ltd. (1980) 43 F.L.R. 193. Nevertheless, I
would expect the company to fulfill its legal obligation, omce it
is made aware of the existence of that obligation by reason of
the decision of the Court. If the company were to go into
liquidation, it may be that the liquidator would have an
obligation to pay Mr. Hughes's outstanding wages. If the amount
of the penalty were paid to Mr. Hughes, and the company
discharged its legal obligation by paying him wages, Mr. Hughes
would have received a windfall benefit. He would have received
this benefit by reason of his not having been a member of an
organization. Inmy view, to confer such a benefit would be a
denial of the central role of organizations in the system of
concilation and arbitration set up under the Act, and would run
contrary to the objects of the Act, especially that found in s.
2(e). Io would order the payment of the penalty into the
Consolidated Revenue Fund, pursuant to 5. 120 of the Act.
I would therefore make the following orders:
1. That a penalty in the sum of $800.00 be imposed on
the respondent for breach or non-observance of the
Carpenters and Joiners Award 1967.
That the
- 28 -
whole of the penalty be paid into the
Consolidated Revenue Fund.
That the
Miller,
of 1983.
sum of $1152.12 be paid to Geoffrey
the person the
subject of matter V No. 21
BR
that this and the 27
& true copy of the
ov Judgecat herern of his Honour
ce GRAY
!
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i