Abigroup Contractors Pty Ltd (Abigroup) has applied to the AIRC to review a decision of the Victorian Building Industry Disputes Panel (VBIDP) dated 26 February 2009 in which the VBIDP ruled that employees should not have been deducted four hours pay for a stoppage of work that took place on 23 January 2009 at the Monash Alliance worksite, a road widening project in Melbourne.
The union collective agreement pertaining to the applicant provides that decisions of the VBIDP may be reviewed by the AIRC. Abigroup is aggrieved at the decision of the VBIDP which held that that the stoppage of work by employees was “not industrially motivated but were related to serious safety issues and imminent risk and therefore the 4 hour deduction by the company was not in accordance with the Act and therefore should not have been deducted”.
Arising from a conference before Commissioner Blair, directions were issued for the parties to present written submissions and a hearing was been set down for 3 & 4 June 2009. When the CFMEU failed to comply with the directions, Commissioner Blair decided to proceed on the basis of written submissions made by Abigroup and the ABCC.
On 22 June 2009 Commissioner Blair determined that the conduct engaged in by the union and its members fell within the definition of industrial action contained in s.419 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 and that the company was acting in compliance with s.507 of the Act when it refused to pay the relevant fourteen workers. The Commissioner had regard to the failure by the union to observe the dispute procedures in the relevant collective agreement including the procedure for dealing with safety matters.