Dear Member

RE: Notice to Members of the Australian Rail, Tram and Bus Industry Union of Employees, West Australian Branch

Yesterday, 6 February 2023, the registry WAIRC advised the Union’s legal representative that after consultation with the Chief Commissioner, the Registrar approved the registration of the rule alterations before her in relation to APPL 51 of 2022.

Effective date of rule alterations

Further, and as you would be aware, our application for rule changes that is before the Commission in Court Session included a proposed rule alteration that the rule amendments were to be effective on and from 1 January 2023 and that certain rules would come into effect on 1 January 2023. However, this date has passed, and there is no capacity for retrospective application of rule alterations within the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (WA).

The dates referenced in the proposed rules being on and from 1 January 2023 reflected our intention to have the state rules registered effective on 1 January 2023, but this does not reflect the reality, which is that the rule changes are effective on and from the date the Registrar provides the certificate of registration to our union. The original 1 January date was reflective of our intention and to mirror the rule changes at the federal level, but unfortunately, we were restrained from registering the rules effective on 1 January by the procedural requirements for rule alteration applications. For clarity, this won’t be an issue and instead the effective date will therefore now be the date the Registrar provides the certificate of registration to our Union.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries regarding the above.

In Unity,

Joshua Dekuyer | Secretary