FCU - Industrial Regulation
123 Rule 5 of the Constitution of the FCU's Registered Rules is as follows:
The Union shall consist of all persons, male and female, engaged in any clerical capacity, including those engaged in the occupation of shorthand writers and typists and/or on calculating, billing and/or other machines designed to perform or assist in performing any clerical work whatsoever, and/or including telephonists and persons employed as canvassers (other than canvassers for the sale of goods) and/or collectors and clear-out men …".
124 The Industries and Callings covered by the Clerks (State) Conciliation Committee are set out below:
All persons employed in any clerical capacity whatsoever, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, shall include telephonists, receptionists, cashiers, messengers, copy boys, persons employed on machines designed to perform or assist in the performing of any clerical work whatsoever, in the State, excluding the County of Yancowinna …".
125 At present, "canvassers (other than for the sale of goods)" are covered by the Time Payment Collectors, &c (State) Award (215 IG 1607), an award made by the Time Payment Collectors, &c (State) Conciliation Committee on the application of the FCU. The term is not therein defined.
126 Clause 23, Area, Incidence and Duration of that Award provides that:
This award rescinds and replaces the Time Payment Collectors (State) Award published 3rd November, 1976, and all variations thereof. It shall apply to time payment collectors, clear-out men and canvassers (other than for the sale of goods) within the jurisdiction of the Time Payment Collectors, &c. (State) Conciliation Committee. It shall take effect from the beginning of the first pay period to commence on or after 15th January, 1979, and shall remain in force thereafter until 12th March, 1980.
127 There is nothing before the Commission, and there was nothing before the Telephone Canvassers Inquiry, to shed light on what were the duties of other employees covered by the Time Payment Collectors (State) Award, those being persons employed as time payment collectors and clear-out men. The three classifications are already included in the FCU's Constitutional Rules. The FCU can already, and has, through the Time Payment Collectors, &c (State) Conciliation Committee, moved the Commission to make the Time Payment Collectors (State) Award.
128 The Time Payment Collectors (State) Conciliation Committee was not re-established after it was dissolved automatically as a result of the provisions of the Industrial Relations Act 1991.
"Engaged in any clerical capacity"
129 Submissions opposing the FCU's application were directed to contentions that "canvassers (other than canvassers for the sale of goods)" were not "engaged in any clerical capacity" in accordance with the FCU's Constitutional Rules, and that that finding had already been made in the TC Report.
130 The matter referred to the Industrial Commission by the Minister for Industrial Relations on 7 August 1984 for determination was:
Whether Telephone Canvassers employed in New South Wales fall within the Industries and Callings of the Clerks (State) Conciliation Committee and, in particular, Clause 33, Area, Incidence and Duration of the Clerks (State) Award as published in the Industrial Gazette of 16 June, 1982.
131 The answer to the question posed in the Terms of Reference was:
Telephone canvassers employed in New South Wales, to the extent they have been identified and discussed in this Report, do not fall within the Industries and Callings of the Clerks (State) Conciliation Committee, and, in particular, do not fall within Clause 33, Area, Incidence and Duration of the Clerks (State) Award as published in the Industrial Gazette of 16 June, 1982.
132 The submissions of the parties appearing before the TC Inquiry, including those of the FCU, were directed to examining whether or not telephone canvassers were employed "in any clerical capacity whatsoever".
133 It was found that they were not.
134 That is not the basis on which the FCU makes this application. It accepts the findings of the TC Inquiry.
135 In the present proceedings, the FCU concedes that the canvassers' work is not work "in a clerical capacity" and puts its application on a different basis. In these proceedings, the FCU says that such canvassers either fall within the clerical industry or have a community of interest with it, propositions also opposed by the employers and the NUW.
136 I therefore put to one side submissions opposing the application which have been based on the assumption that the FCU's approach is to claim that canvassers are "engaged in any clerical capacity".
Term "canvasser": vague and uncertain?
137 According to PATEA, the words "canvassers (other than canvassers for the sale of goods)" are vague, unclear and uncertain. The NUW contended that the phrase is broad and uncertain.
138 It was submitted by ABL/AIG that there was no clear definition of the term "canvassers (other than canvassers for the sale of goods)" as a whole. The exclusion is limited only to the act of selling goods as opposed to services. The term would create an inconvenience and potential for litigation especially in deciding whether a person is selling goods or services. This would contradict the first principle enunciated in In re Public Hospital Employees (State) and Hospital Employees (Metropolitan) Conciliation Committees (1960 AR 530 at 535 and 538).
139 Consideration of the definition of "telephone canvassers" occupied some ten pages of the TC Report, the bulk of that consideration going to the term "canvasser". The Commission (at p11) accepted the contention of Mr Goot of counsel, then appearing on behalf of AMRO, that the use of a telephone is irrelevant in determining whether someone is or is not a "canvasser". (It was, of course, relevant for the purposes of the Inquiry insofar as the Reference was limited to "telephone canvassers".)
140 In the TC Report, the Commission, as set out at pages 12 to 18, took into account definitions of "canvass", "canvasser", "solicit", "subscription" and "telemarketing" from a number of sources: the Macquarie and Concise Oxford dictionaries; decisions and legal reference works, definitions advanced by some of those appearing, and industry reference material.
141 Having done so, the Commission stated (TC Report pp18-19):
In the light of the various definitions and descriptions set out above, and having considered the submissions made in respect of them, I am of the view that a "canvasser" is one who: