QIRC: Brisbane City Council can’t act unilaterally and determine who isn’t part of negotiations

Hall Payne Lawyers along with the ETU, CFMEU, and AMWU representing workers at Brisbane City Council have successfully stopped Brisbane City Council from acting unilaterally from putting an agreement out to ballot that they didn’t agree to the terms of.

Before the ballot Brisbane City Council also attempted to deny the employees represented by their union from having a saying by unilaterally determining that they were not part of the negotiations, even though they had been from the start.

It was not until around a week after Brisbane City Council sent the proposed agreement to employee to vote on that Brisbane City Council gave notice to the unions that they no longer intended to negotiate with them in relation to the proposed bargaining instrument.

The commission also noted that Brisbane City Council made a number of submissions, most of which were not supported by any evidence.

The commission also found that there was a reasonable case to be tried that all relevant parties, including employees represented by the unions, need to agree on the terms of the agreement before it is balloted.

The substantive hearing should occur quickly to determine, for the first time, how the agreement making provisions of the new Industrial Relations Act 2016 operate. The decision will have wide-ranging implication for state-system bargaining.

Hall Payne is one of Australia’s leading employment law firms. If you believe your employer has treated you unfairly or prevented you from exercising your workplace right, Hall Payne can help.

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