Clubs Award 2010 Delivers Mixed Bag For Managers
The Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2010 that the Full Bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) handed down on September 4 has the Club Industry pouring over changes to wages and conditions for club managers.
The new Award comes into effect on January 1, 2010, and covers club employees and managers.
CMAA Senior Industrial Relations Advocate Peter Cooper said that having first succeeded in achieving a Club Industry Award, then agreeing to a Draft Exposure Award, managers across Australia would have been able to live with this arrangement, but would be disappointed in the final outcome.
Now, with the final Modern Award, club managers have to deal with a reduced Overtime Exemption Rate - from 30% to 20% - applying over a transition period.
In the case of existing members working under the NSW NAPSA, this transition period will be five years, meaning they will be covered by the NAPSA until December 31, 2014.
CMAA Federal President Bill Clegg, ACCM, said that putting aside the disappointment of Clubs Australia appealing the 30% exemption rate for NSW managers, the award modernisation process had been a good result with a number of other conditions achieved.
“I have always held the view that the Award represents the minimum conditions for employment,” Bill said. “The new system identifies that more senior managers will be entering into individual Service Agreements. This opens the opportunity for collective agreements for subordinate management teams. Each Association member should carefully consider the best employment arrangement for himself/herself and those people that they are responsible for. The Association is here to help you … personally, and your team.”
Apart from these two “big ticket” items - rates of pay and the reduction in exemptions – the new award has delivered other management-specific conditions ...
> Career-Based Qualification Framework
> Classification & Duties
> Professional Development – 5 Days
> Meals & Allowances
> Uniforms Allowances
> Manager Expenses
> RDOs – 9 days
> Recall to Duty
> Accommodation
The new award also has delivered two new classifications ...
> Maintenance & Horticultural Management Level 1 & Level 2
CMAA Executive Officer Terry Condon, CCM, said Peter Cooper had done an excellent job for the Association in this long, drawn-out, flawed process.
“Many of the hard-earned Award conditions the CMAA has negotiated over many years have been retained in this ground-breaking Award,” Terry added. “It’s disappointing that the Employer Associations, under the banner of Clubs Australia, appealed the Draft Exposure Award 30% Overtime Exemption Rate. It’s obvious this condition clearly favours the club and the Club Industry by allowing managers - at all levels – the flexibility on a daily basis with Higher Duties, Ordinary Hours of Work and Rostering, Recall to Duty and Overtime. This is a condition has been in the CMA NSW State Award for many years and to have it reduced to 20% means there will be no incentive for new managers to enter into this type of agreement.”
The NSW State Award covers more than 80% of club managers throughout Australia.
The Full Bench, in formulating this new award, decided upon the lowest pay rates for club managers.
The Full Bench also is working on the details of how these arrangements will be phased in.
Before the end of 2009, the AIRC will deal with the transitional arrangements to be phased in during the period to July 1, 2014.
Significantly, changes will only start phasing in from July 1, 2010 - six months after modern awards commence - and take effect in 20% annual increments.
The Full Bench said the six-month grace period was desirable because it would give employers and employees the opportunity to come to terms with other changes brought by modern awards and allow for phasing-in provisions to synchronise with Fair Work Australia’s first minimum wage review on July 1, 2010.
This is particularly relevant for ACT members employed under the industry’s other Federal Award.
The phase-in mechanism will apply to increases and decreases in wages and conditions.
Where there are differences between provisions such as rates of pay, casual loadings, weekend and public holiday loadings, night and other penalties and shift allowances, the AIRC will determine how these will be phased in over the five-year period.
New employees, employed after January 1, 2010, will be subject to the new pay rates as prescribed by the Award.
The AIRC also indicated it was open to further consideration on maintaining flexible part-time arrangements as part of the two-year review of modern awards.
Peter Cooper said that while Clubs Australia’s approach at the final Full Bench consultation hearing may have influenced the exemption outcome, he believed the Full Bench determined what rates it believed to be appropriate. “A number of other unions have experienced the same type of outcomes in wages and allowance under their final drafts,” Peter added.
The 30% salary Overtime Exemption Rate for managers specified in the Draft Award was reduced to 20% on Clubs Australia’s appeal.
The existing 50% exemption rate has been retained.
The Commission will only entertain applications to vary these modern awards to clarify the intent of the award provisions – rather than changing the concept.
Parties will not be able to seek any significant arbitrated variation until a formal review is conducted into modern awards some time after July 2012.
For more information concerning the new Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2010, or assistance formulating an Employment Agreement, contact Peter Cooper at the CMAA P: 02 - 9643 2300 or E: peter@cmaa.asn.au
A copy of the new award is available at http://www.business-sa.com/library/Registered%20and%20Licensed%20Clubs%20Award%202010.pdf
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