Blacktown City Council Minimum Conditions and Benefits of Employment Agreement 2022-2024 [2022] NSWIRComm 1104

Industrial Relations Commission New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Blacktown City Council Minimum Conditions and Benefits of Employment Agreement 2022-2024 [2022] NSWIRComm 1104 Hearing dates: Determined on the papers Date of orders: 24 November 2022 Decision date: 24 November 2022 Jurisdiction: Industrial Relations Commission Before: Commissioner Sloan Decision: The Blacktown City Council Minimum Conditions and Benefits of Employment Agreement 2022-2024 is approved Catchwords: EMPLOYMENT AND INDUSTRIAL LAW – awards and agreements – application for approval of enterprise agreement – agreement approved Legislation Cited: Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 Industrial Relations Act 1996 Pt 2 Div 1, ss 33, 34, 35 Cases Cited: Review of the Principles for Approval of Enterprise Agreements 2018 [2018] NSWIRComm 1064 Texts Cited: Nil Category: Principal judgment Parties: New South Wales Local Government, Clerical, Administrative, Energy, Airlines & Utilities Union (Applicant) Blacktown City Council (Respondent) The Local Government Engineers' Association of New South Wales (Respondent) The Development and Environmental Professionals Association (Respondent) Representation: D Papps, USU (Applicant) M Lopez, Local Government NSW (Respondent) A Vasilangos, LGEA (Respondent) I Robertson, DEPA (Respondent) File Number(s): 2022/00327958 Publication restriction: No

DECISION 1. This is an application by the New South Wales Local Government, Clerical, Administrative, Energy, Airlines & Utilities Union ("USU"), pursuant to s 34 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 ("Act") seeking approval of an enterprise agreement made under Pt 2 Div 1 of the Act between Blacktown City Council ("Council"), the USU, The Local Government Engineers' Association of New South Wales ("LGEA") and The Development and Environmental Professionals Association ("DEPA"). 2. The application was filed on 25 October 2022. On 3 November 2022 I arranged to have the Registry write to the parties to enquire whether they had any objection to the application being determined in Chambers. In separate correspondence to the Registry, each of the USU, the LGEA, the DEPA and the Council confirmed that they had no objection to that approach. 3. Despite the application having been filed on 25 October 2022, a complete copy of the proposed enterprise agreement executed by all of the parties was not received until 21 November 2022. It is unnecessary to traverse why this was the case. 4. The proposed enterprise agreement is stated to apply to "Blacktown City Council and all employees, whether members of the union or not". The term "employees" is not defined. However, in the Statement of Particulars which accompanies the application, it is stated that the proposed enterprise agreement will apply to all employees of the Council. I have proceeded on that basis. 5. The terms of the proposed enterprise agreement do not themselves specify the name by which the agreement is to be known. A definition of "the Agreement" in cl 4(xiv) refers to the "Blacktown City Council Minimum Conditions and Benefits of Employment Agreement". The cover sheet refers to "Blacktown City Council Minimum Conditions and Benefits of Employment Agreement 2022-2024", which is also the name appearing in the application. As the application is brought with the consent of all parties, I will adopt that name. 6. The application is supported by an affidavit of Daniel Papps, the Manager of Industrial, Rules, Governance and Compliance for the USU, sworn on 25 October 2022. In his affidavit, Mr Papps deposed that: 1. the proposed enterprise agreement will be underpinned by the Local Government (State) Award 2020 ("Award"), but prevail over the Award to the extent of any inconsistency. Attached to Mr Papps' affidavit was a table comparing the terms of the proposed enterprise agreement with those of the Award; 2. the conditions of employment under the proposed enterprise agreement, when compared to those in the Award, do not, when considered as a whole, result in any detriment to the employees to be covered by the proposed enterprise agreement; 3. the proposed enterprise agreement complies with any and all relevant statutory requirements, including those of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977; 4. the parties understand the effect of the proposed enterprise agreement; 5. the parties did not enter into the proposed enterprise agreement under duress; 6. the proposed enterprise agreement complies with the principles set by the Commission under s 33 of the Act; and 7. the proposed enterprise agreement provides equal remuneration for men and women doing work of equal and comparable value under the proposed enterprise agreement. 1. I am satisfied on the material presented to the Commission that the proposed enterprise agreement complies with all necessary statutory tests and the principles set by the Commission pursuant to s 33 of the Act in Review of the Principles for Approval of Enterprise Agreements 2018 [2018] NSWIRComm 1064. 2. The Blacktown City Council Minimum Conditions and Benefits of Employment Agreement 2022-2024 is approved pursuant to s 35 of the Act. In accordance with its terms the agreement will be taken to have commenced operation from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2022 and will remain in force until 30 June 2024. Damian Sloan Commissioner