Following considerable lobbying by the CEPU, an exemption may prevent the requirement to vary the Telstra EA as reported previously, here.
The Federal Government has performed a major backflip with an amendment to the Building Code 2016 allowing companies to apply to the Australian Building and Construction Commission for an exemption to the Code.
This amendment applies from tomorrow, 22 August 2017 and specifies:
(1) A building contractor or building industry participant may apply to the ABC Commissioner for an exemption from this code of practice.
(2) The ABC Commissioner must grant the exemption (the infrastructure exemption) if the Commissioner is satisfied that:
(a) the principal business of the building contractor or building industry participant involves performing work for the provision of essential services related to supply of electricity, natural gas, water, waste water, or telecommunications; and
(b) the principal building work of the building contractor or building industry participant involves performing work for the provision of essential services infrastructure.
Upon initial examination of the amendment, our preliminary view is that Telstra is eligible to apply for the exemption, and that the exemption would indeed be granted – making their proposed EA variations unnecessary.
This also has a significant impact on other private-sector contractor agreements which would’ve had to be “Code compliant” – stripping the Union of significant automatic consultation and representation rights.
We will be discussing our views with Telstra over the coming days and will report back to members as soon as the implications for the company’s intentions on EA variance are clear.
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