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Work Health and Safety Act 2011
54Failure of negotiations
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54 Failure of negotiations
(1) If there is a failure of negotiations (including negotiations concerning
the variation of an agreement), any person who is or would be a party
to the negotiations may ask the regulator to appoint an inspector for
the purposes of this section.
(2) An inspector appointed under subsection (1) may decide—
(a) the matters referred to in section 52 (3) (Negotiations for
agreement for work group) or any of those matters which is the
subject of the proposed variation (as the case requires); or
(b) that work groups should not be determined or that the agreement
should not be varied (as the case requires).
(3) For the purposes of this section, there is a failure of negotiations if—
(a) the person conducting the business or undertaking has not
taken all reasonable steps to commence negotiations with the
workers and negotiations have not commenced—
(i) for a major construction project—when work on the
project commences; or
(ii) within 14 days after the day a request is made under section
50 (Request for election of health and safety
representative); or
(iii) within 14 days after the day a party to the agreement
requests the variation of the agreement; or
(b) agreement cannot be reached on a matter relating to the
determination of a work group (or the variation of an agreement
concerning a work group) within a reasonable time after
negotiations commence.
(4) A decision under this section is taken to be an agreement under
section 52.
(5) In this section:
person conducting a business or undertaking includes the principal
contractor for a major construction project.
Subdivision 5.3.3 Multiple-business work groups