68 As to ground (b), Financial Detriment Submission, this was not an argument per se against the introduction of night shift, given the consent of the Technicians and the implicit consent of the Technicians Assistants for the introduction of night shift. The loss of significant income is regrettable but that was an outcome arising out of the 2008 wages - offset deal.
69 As to ground (c), Safety/Well-Being Detriment Submission, the Commission was really only provided with statements of concern rather than specific night time incidents about safety issues. The telling point for the Commission rejecting this ground, is that the Company provided undisputed evidence that the crews knocked back the opportunity to air their safety concerns by no longer participating in the risk assessment procedure being undertaken by Ms Swan.
70 As to ground (d), Work-Life Balance, the Commission was provided with statements of concern about the impact of the proposed introduction of night shift work on work-life balance. The more concrete evidence given to the Commission about the impact, was that provided by Mr Nasir. He had a concern about its impact on his TAFE studies but these night time classes concluded before the start of any night shift work introduction. Further, he gave evidence of his ability to sometimes swap shifts in order to avoid clashes between his work and personal circumstances. He also raised his concern about night shift work impact on his family, as his wife was looking to re-enter the workforce but this is an issue some two years down the track and not therefore of immediate consideration for the Company or indeed this Commission.
71 Having considered all of the grounds of objection by the Union, the Commission finds that the Union has not made out a case warranting the Commission's intervention into the Company's proposal to re-introduce night shift work.
72 There was another potential issue raised during the proceedings by one or more witnesses called by the Union. This went to a concern that the night shift work would not be restricted to emergency work only, but that the Company would have the night shift crews also carrying out maintenance work. The Commission notes that Mr Malepa gave evidence under cross-examination from the Union, that "the night crew initially would not be required to do any maintenance tasks, yes. Initially that's the way I see it". And later he said, "I would say to you there is quite some capacity for us to do some other work, but initially we're not planning to do that, because we want to ascertain all the factors that are involved, because we haven't run a night shift for a number of years". (Tr 13/10/09 - p6, line 47 to p7, line 32)
73 For the reasons set out above. the Union has not made out its case for the Commission to intervene in the Company's decision to reintroduce the working of night shift.