Latrobe Valley Insulations Pty Ltd [2014] FWCA 490 (20 January 2014)

Result

procedural. The Agreement was approved and will operate from 27 January 2014 with a nominal expiry date of 31 March 2016. The model flexibility term was attached to the Agreement.

Key principles

• The Fair Work Commission must be satisfied that the requirements of ss.186 and 187 of the Fair Work Act 2009 are met before approving an enterprise agreement (para [3]).
• For a greenfields agreement, s.187(5)(a) requires the Commission to be satisfied that the relevant employee organisation is entitled to represent the industrial interests of a...
• Where a bargaining representative has given notice under s.185 that it wants the agreement to cover it, the Commission must note that the agreement covers the organisation in...
• Where an agreement does not contain a flexibility clause, the model flexibility term prescribed by the Fair Work Regulations 2009 is taken to be a term of the agreement pursuant...

Issues before the court

• Whether the requirements for approval of a greenfields enterprise agreement under ss.186 and 187 of the Fair Work Act 2009 were satisfied
• Whether the CFMEU was entitled to represent the industrial interests of a majority of employees who will be covered by the Agreement