The Mining and Energy Union has welcomed today’s Federal Court decision confirming that the Closing Loopholes laws give workplace delegates the right to represent workers on site regardless of labour hire or employment arrangements, delivering a significant win for workers and their unions across Australia.
The decision follows a legal challenge brought by the MEU, with the support of the ACTU and its affiliates, after the Fair Work Commission inserted a delegates’ rights clause into modern awards that significantly limited the scope of the rights Parliament intended to provide.
Under the Closing Loopholes legislation, workplace delegates were granted new statutory rights to represent workers, communicate with members and eligible members, and advocate on workplace issues. The reforms were designed to reflect the reality of modern workplaces, where labour hire, contracting and complex employment arrangements are commonly used by employers to divide workforces and arbitrarily dilute their collective power.
However, when the Commission finalised the delegates’ rights clause in June, it restricted delegates to representing only workers employed by their own employer. In practice, this meant a delegate working alongside labour hire or contractor workers on the same site could be prevented from advocating for them, even where those workers were eligible to be union members.
The MEU challenged that outcome, arguing it was inconsistent with section 350C of the Fair Work Act and with the clear intent of the Closing Loopholes reforms.
MEU General Secretary Grahame Kelly said the today’s decision confirms that delegates’ rights cannot be confined by artificial employment boundaries.
“This case was about whether the law would reflect the real world of work, or whether it would allow technical drafting to undermine delegate’s rights,” Mr Kelly said.
“The Court has confirmed that Parliament intended workplace delegates to have real, enforceable rights to represent workers they work alongside, not just those who happen to share the same employing entity.”
Mr Kelly said the decision was particularly important in industries like mining where labour hire and contracting are widespread.
“Workers doing the same job on the same site deserve union representation, regardless of who signs their pay slip,” he said.
“Delegates are there to protect safety, fairness and decent standards at work, and this ruling allows them to do that job properly.”
The ACTU said the outcome was significant for the entire union movement and for the integrity of the Closing Loopholes reforms.
The MEU will work with the ACTU to give effect to the Court’s decision and ensure workplace delegates can exercise their rights as Parliament intended.
Contact details:
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Emily Holm |
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M 0400 382 271 |