Application for termination of the Economy Glass Enterprise Bargaining Agreement 2016-2020.

[1] The employer, Economy Glass Vic Pty Ltd, has applied to terminate the Economy Glass Enterprise Bargaining Agreement 2016-2020 (Agreement). The application was made under s 222 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act), which provides for termination of an enterprise agreement by agreement between the employer and employees. The Agreement is a single-enterprise agreement.

[2] By s 219 of the Act, an employer and its employees may "jointly agree" to terminate an enterprise agreement. A termination of an enterprise agreement by joint agreement has no effect unless approved by the Commission: s 219(2).

[3] Section 220(1) provides that an employer may request employees to approve a proposed termination of an agreement by voting for it. By s 220(2), before making a request, an employer must:

"(a) take all reasonable steps to notify the employees of the following:

(i) the time and place at which the vote will occur;

(b) give the employees a reasonable opportunity to decide whether they want to approve the proposed termination."

[4] By s 221(1), a termination is "agreed to" when a majority of the employees who cast a vote approve the termination.

[5] Sections 222 - 224 set out various requirements that must be met for approval of the termination, as well as when any termination comes into operation. Sections 223 and 224 are as follows:

"223 When the FWC must approve a termination of an enterprise agreement

If an application for the approval of a termination of an enterprise agreement is made under section 222, the FWC must approve the termination if:

(a) the FWC is satisfied that each employer covered by the agreement complied with subsection 220(2) (which deals with giving employees a reasonable opportunity to decide etc) in relation to the agreement; and

(b) the FWC is satisfied that the termination was agreed to in accordance with whichever of subsection 221(1) or (2) applies (those subsections deal with agreement to the termination of different kinds of enterprise agreements by employee vote); and

(c) the FWC is satisfied that there are no other reasonable grounds for believing that the employees have not agreed to the termination; and

(d) the FWC considers that it is appropriate to approve the termination taking into account the views of the employee organisation or employee organisations (if any) covered by the agreement.

If a termination of an enterprise agreement is approved under section 223, the termination operates from the day specified in the decision to approve the termination."

[6] Based on the material in the application and supporting declaration, I am satisfied that the employer took all reasonable steps to notify the employees of the matters required by s 220(2). The timeline for the vote and supporting material satisfies me that the employees were given a reasonable opportunity to decide whether to support the proposed termination or not.

[7] I am also satisfied that the employer requested its employees to approve the proposed termination of the Agreement and that the request was "agreed to" by a valid majority of the employees who cast a vote approving the termination on 12 December 2025. There was no matter drawn to my attention suggestive that there was some other reasonable ground for believing that the employees did not agree. In the latter respect, I take further comfort from an earlier application by the employer for termination of the Agreement under s 225 of the Act. That application was also allocated to me and, while that application was withdraw, material filed with that application included declarations from the relevant employees supportive of the termination of the Agreement.

[8] The application was made within 14 days after the termination was agreed to. No further period of time was required: s 222(3).

[9] While there were no employee organisations covered by the Agreement whose views needed to be taken into account under s 223(d), I am otherwise satisfied that it is appropriate to approve the termination.

[10] I am therefore satisfied that each of the requirements of ss 220, 221, 222 are met. Further, as the requirements of s 223(a)-(d) are met, I must terminate the Agreement and, by this decision, now do so.

[11] For the purposes of s 224, I specify the date the termination operates as 22 December 2025.

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