Australia, Aug. 21 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 21:

1. On 27 May 2025 the NSW Local Government Clerical, Administrative, Energy, Airlines and Utilities Union (USU) notified a dispute to the Commission pursuant to s 130 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 (IR Act). It is convenient to set out the description of the dispute as set out in the filed Notification:

"1. The parties have been in the process of bargaining for a new Enterprise Award being the Riverina Water County Council 2025-2028. Bargaining has been occurring for approximately six months and has reached a point where it can't progress further.

2. A number of matters as a whole remain unresolved however for the notifier 2 impasses have been reached, the implementation of a 35 hour work week for all employees with no financial loss, [and] the pay offer.

3. The change in hours of work has become a primary focus of the applicant (sic) and was a matter arising from the previous award. The respondent stated they would engage in a productivity review to see if this was an option but has not genuinely considered or given the opportunity to work on this matter. As a result the respondent has been resistant to this position through the course of bargaining which has led to our members taking industrial action on two occasions.

4. For this reason the pay offer currently pressed by the respondent is unacceptable for the Notifier and as we understand is not supported by the other two respondent unions. The respondent has currently offered 13% increase over 3 years.

5. In the bargaining meeting held on the 27th of [M]ay the respondent General Manager/CEO put the position this is the respondent's final pay offer and that [the respondent] would file [an application for a new award] without consent if the position was not accepted.

6. As a result the USU has taken the position to file proceedings and seek the assistance of the commission to establish a new award through a bargaining dispute.

7. We seek the intervention of the commission regarding this matter.

8. We seek that the matter be heard in person to facilitate a greater level of discussion ....

9. The other two unions who are parties to the award have been listed as respondents to the dispute."

2. The matter came before me for compulsory conference on 6 June 2025.

3. On that day representatives for the Notifier and the First and Second Respondents appeared, however there was no appearance for the Third Respondent. I confirmed that the Second Respondent, the Local Government Engineers Association (LGEA) and Third Respondent, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), were properly named as respondents, as they are parties to the existing Riverina Water County Council Enterprise Award 2022 (2022 Award) and represent workers covered by the Award, and so should be subject to any determination made by the Commission in respect of the dispute. However as expected, they generally have the same interest as the Notifier, rather than the First Respondent, Riverina Water County Council (Riverina Water), being the employer.

4. Riverina Water is a somewhat unique body. It is constituted under the Local Government Act 1993 and is governed by that Act, but it is not a local council as most people understand that concept. Rather, it is in the nature of a utilities provider. Specifically, it provides a public water supply to more than 77,000 people, with approximately 33,000 connections across four local government areas located in the Riverina area of New South Wales. It employs around 125 staff, most of whom are based at Riverina Water's water treatment facility at Wagga Wagga. Around 75-80 of those staff members are categorised as "outdoor staff", with the balance being "indoor staff".

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1982a6a7a819708e34bf7fa1)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.