Case Number: C2006/3844
Applicant: ECA Training Pty Ltd t/as NECA Group Training
Respondent: CEPU
Before: Full Bench - Senior Deputy Presidents Watson & Harrison, Commissioner Redmond, AIRC, Sydney
Hearing Date: 23 April 2007
ABC Commissioner’s notice to intervene filed on: 5 February 2007
An application by NECA Group Training (NECA GT) under section 558 Workplace Relations Act 1996 to be bound by the National Electrical, Electronic and Communications Contracting Industry Award 1998. The hearing commenced before a Full Bench of the AIRC in Sydney on Monday, 23 April.
NECA GT employs 260 electrical apprentices who are covered by a former NSW award, now a Notional Agreement Preserving a State Award (NAPSA). The NAPSA is not compliant with National Code of Practice for the Construction Industry and NECA GT is concerned that the supply of apprentices to host employers will make those host employers non-compliant.
The ABCC intervened as of right in these proceedings and the ACTU was granted leave to intervene.
The first day’s hearing was confined to a jurisdictional argument as to the power of the AIRC to grant the application, in which NECA GT seeks not only that it be bound by the Federal award but to make a number of variations to the contents of the Federal award to make it effective in respect of NSW.
On 9 May 2007 the Full Bench handed down its decision on the jurisdictional issue. The Full Bench dismissed the application and ruled that it was "beyond power".
The issue on which the ABCC intervened, namely whether the Commission should vary the Federal award to override a NAPSA that was not compliant with the National Code of Practice, did not arise.
Related document: AIRC Decision PR977004