Case Numbers: C2007/2715 and 2732
Applicant: J.A. Dodd Ltd
Respondent: CFMEU
Before: Deputy President Ives, AIRC, Melbourne
ABC Commissioner’s notices to intervene filed on: 8 May 2007
Hearing Dates: 7 & 8 June 2007
Decisions: 28 June 2007
The matter concerns an application for review by the AIRC of a decision of the Chairman of the Victorian Building Industry Disputes Panel (the Panel) under s.170LW of the pre-reform Workplace Relations Act 1996.
The review relates to the interpretation of the site allowance formula in a certified agreement. The agreement provides for payment of a site allowance on a sliding scale according to the project value.
J.A. Dodd Ltd (Dodd) is constructing a civic centre and sports facility with a value of $16 million for the Shire of Melton at Caroline Springs, a housing estate in West Melbourne. The CFMEU claims that the project is part of the Caroline Springs Town Centre Development, the total value of which is claimed to be $155 million. The Chairman of the Panel ruled the “project value” was $155 million, not $16 million.
Dodd applied for review of the VBIDP Chairman’s decision. The CFMEU submitted that there is no jurisdiction for the AIRC to review a decision by the Panel in respect of site allowances. Following hearings on 7 and 8 June 2007, DP Ives handed down a decision on 28 June in which he ruled that the parties to the certified agreement did not intend to reserve an exclusive right of determination of site allowances for either the Chairman or the full Panel. The Deputy President found that the AIRC had jurisdiction to review decisions of the full VBIDP but not a decision of the Chairman, as was the case here. DP Ives ruled that a decision of the Chairman needs to be made by the full Panel before it can be reviewed by the AIRC.
See later reports for proceedings subsequent to this decision.
Related document: AIRC decision PR977399