Quarry Award Modernisation

Following on from the last edition of Sand & Stone, we are able to provide an update on the progress to date on the modernisation of the quarry award. Reported by SARAH ANDREW.

CONSIDERABLE progress has been made in terms of the modernisation of the quarry industry award since the last magazine. A hearing has been held to discuss general matters in relation to the award, and two parties have presented exposure drafts.

The first party exposure draft was developed and provided by the Australian Workers Union. This document was presented before the hearing and as such, although an interesting read, does not cover some matters raised at the hearing.

The second draft is a document that was prepared by Boral in consultation with the AWU. It is more extensive as it was presented following the hearing. In Boral’s submission to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission on 12 December 2008, they note:

“The Boral ACM award seeks to address various issues raised by some of the Unions appearing [at the hearing] including:

• The description of coverage for the quarrying industry maintaining the traditional demarcation between the coverage of the AWU and the CFMEU;
• The coverage of the award being limited to virgin or recycled quarry operations within the ‘quarry’ site thus excluding clerical roles in head offices etc; and
• While trades classifications have been included, these have been limited to trade functions again being limited to virgin or recycled quarry operations within the ‘quarry’ site thus excluding higher level ‘diploma’ based trade roles that might be employed more broadly in the construction materials industry”

Key differences between this award and that currently used by Victorian operators generally include:

• The definition of a quarry includes lime, stone, sand, gravel and recycling but does not include dimension stone, brick, shale and slate. There is no mention of soil.
• Allowances have been changed to a percentage of the weekly wage and there are fewer allowances available.
• Weekly rates consist of seven levels of Quarry Workers ($598.40 to $708.20) and five levels of Quarry Tradespersons ($698.20 to $793.10). This is approximately 15% above the current federal award ($522.20 to $636.40).
• Leading hands have a greater range in that the number of people in charge of now ranges between three and 20 people (1.95% to 7.33%) compared to six presently.
• Allowances that are proposed include first aid, travel per kilometre, meals and camp (full reimbursement). Allowances that have been removed include additional function groups, face allowances, and excess fares. There are however special allowances for Quarry Tradespeople including confined spaces, dirty work, height money, hot work and tool allowances.
• Classifications were revised.

On January 23, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) released a final draft of the quarry award taking into account all of the previous communications they have received. The media release to this notes;

“We publish an exposure draft of a Quarrying Industry Award 2010. The draft award applies to operators and other employees in the quarrying industry but does not include clerical or maintenance classifications. The minimum wages are those found in the Quarry Industry—Victoria—Award 200038 and are not dissimilar to rates in awards and NAPSAs applying generally in the industry although they are significantly lower than the New South Wales rates. Generally there is no provision for junior rates in the awards and NAPSAs in the industry and we have not included junior rates in the exposure draft .

A number of allowances have been included, including an industry allowance. Other allowances, including some trades allowances proposed, have not been included. Relevant awards and NAPSAs have differing provisions in relation to span of hours, shift work penalties and overtime. The draft incorporates provisions approximating to federal award standards in those areas.”

The table below attempts to summarise the changes.

For full details visit the AIRC’s website, www.airc.gov.au

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