Industry groups have expressed their disappointment in a decision handed down by Fair Work Australia today, saying it paves the way for minority groups to create "carnage" in the workplace and creates more risks.
Industry groups have expressed their disappointment in a decision handed down by Fair Work Australia today, saying it paves the way for minority groups to create "carnage" in the workplace and creates more risks.
Fair Work Australia today rejected resource industry employer group AMMA's appeal against a ruling concerning the ability of unions to be able to take protected industrial action without negotiating with an employer first.
"The full bench today paved the way for a minority of a workforce to perpetrate industrial carnage by taking protected industrial action against the wishes of the majority of a workforce,"AMMA chief executive Steve Knott said.
"AMMA's concern with today's decision is not limited just to the fact it paves the way for a small group of union members to wreak havoc at a workplace.
"The way the legislation is being interpreted means while a minority of employees are now able to take protected action before bargaining begins, employers are not able to take protected industrial action or 'employer response action' against it - because employers can only take such action during the bargaining process.
"Such a situation is manifestly unfair to employers and flies in the face of the assurances given to employers when the Government first introduced its changes to the nation's industrial legislation."
Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout said the decision to reject the appeal was disappointing, and that it would create more risks for employers, particularly those who do not wish to enter into enterprise agreements.
"We have tested this law and the law has been found wanting," Mrs Ridout said.
"The decision is further evidence that the Fair Work bargaining laws are not working effectively in some areas and need to be amended."
The original decision involved waste management company JJ Richards & Sons and the Transport Workers Union and was handed down in November 2010.
Fair Work Australia Commissioner Greg Harrison upheld the union's right to apply to take protected industrial action despite bargaining not having commenced.
Mr Knott said a subsequent Full Bench appeal upheld Commissioner Harrison's findings but said the union would have to re-apply for a secret ballot order due to a technicality.
The union re-applied and a decision handed down in February this year granted the union's ballot application.
"AMMA, together with JJ Richards, filed an appeal against that decision," Mr Knott said.
"Today the Full Bench rejected this latest appeal - finding had the legislature intended a protected action ballot order not be available until an employer agreed to bargain, the wording of the Fair Work Act would have made that clear.
"The decision also found there was no need for unions to seek majority support determinations or other orders from the tribunal before embarking on industrial action based on the whim of the minority."
