Standing Up Against Employer Tactics: AWU v Barminco

Standing Up Against Employer Tactics in an Enterprise Agreement Dispute

Hall Payne Lawyers successfully applied for an injunction on behalf of a Tasmanian union against a mining services company, standing up against employer tactics to influence a vote.

This enterprise agreement dispute, known as AWU v Barminco, involved a proposed Barminco enterprise agreement, pay cuts, employee voting rights and alleged pressure during enterprise bargaining.

Barminco Enterprise Agreement Negotiations

The union and the mining services company, Barminco Limited (“Barminco”), had commenced enterprise agreement negotiations to replace an enterprise agreement covering two mines in western Tasmania. Barminco stated to the union that it needed to cut its costs and that employees would all need to take a pay cut.

Barminco put a proposed enterprise agreement out to ballot that contained pay cuts of 5% for all employees.

Employer Tactics During Enterprise Bargaining

Barminco held information sessions with its employees, which included a slide show with a slide threatening employees that if they voted “no” to the proposed enterprise agreement, Barminco would unilaterally cut employees’ pay by an average of 10%.

This raised serious concerns about employer tactics during enterprise bargaining, employee voting rights, enterprise agreement matters, and how employers influence enterprise agreement votes.

Legal Action Against Employer Intimidation

The union instructed Hall Payne Lawyers to commence proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, alleging that Barminco had breached Part 3-1 of the Fair Work Act 2009, and to seek an injunction to restrain Barminco from following through with their threat in the event that the employees voted “no”.

This was an important example of legal action against employer intimidation in a mining workers’ enterprise agreement dispute, particularly where employees needed to understand their workplace rights under Fair Work Act protections.

Fair Work Act Enterprise Agreement Outcome

Barminco gave an undertaking to the Court in the form of the orders sought by the union. The undertaking from Barminco was that the employees’ existing legal entitlements would remain, irrespective of a “no” vote.

Barminco was ordered to give a copy of the undertaking to each employee before they voted on the proposed enterprise agreement, making sure that all employees knew there was no threat to their pay as they went in to vote.

This outcome reinforced the importance of Fair Work Act enterprise agreement protections and enterprise agreement voting rights in Australia for employees involved in workplace bargaining.

Employee Voting Rights in Enterprise Agreement Disputes

The proposed enterprise agreement with 5% pay cuts was voted down and the employees did not have their pay cut. Negotiations continued, with this result showing the importance of standing up against employer tactics intended to influence employees to vote in favour of their preferred bargaining outcomes.

If you require employment legal advice or enterprise agreement advice in relation to asserting your rights under an enterprise agreement, please contact HPL at 1800 659 114.