Wollongong Coal
Introduction
Since the Full Bench decisions in Aurizon 1,
Griffin Coal 2 and Murdoch3,
conventional wisdom was that in overturning Tahmoor Coal[4], the
Federal Commission had opened the floodgates on a trend that would
result in workers from industries across the country being deprived
of the benefits of enterprise bargaining and being dumped back onto
the to pay rates found in modern awards. SDP Hamberger's
decision in NRE No 1 Colliery Workplace Agreement
20115 (Wollongong Coal) not to terminate the
Agreement, has perhaps slowed the flood to a trickle.
A quick review
Each of these Full Bench decisions and Murdoch shared
factual similarities that allowed the Commission to determine that
any decision to keep these agreements alive was against the public
interest. Firstly, each agreement had been the subject of intense
good faith negotiation over several years between the parties
culminating in the employer making an application to
