Australian Workers Union v BHP Iron Ore Pty Ltd [2000] FCA 770

Australian Workers Union v BHP Iron Ore Pty Ltd [2000] FCA 770

Because the unions had obtained the protection of the Court's interlocutory order preserving the utility of their claim until trial, it would be inequitable and contrary to the Court's interest in preserving the integrity of its proceedings to allow them to exert industrial pressure while BHPIO remained restrained from using an industrial weapon arguably available to it. Rather than dissolve the injunction against BHPIO, which could allow non-party employees to acquire rights under workplace agreements that might later be held to have contravened s 298M, the appropriate course was to impose a complementary interlocutory restraint on the first to fifth applicants and, for mutuality, a...

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
08 June 2000
Procedural Posture
Federal Court Proceeding Concerning Interlocutory Injunctive Relief in an Industrial Dispute / Adjourned Hearing of the Respondent's Motion Dated 6 June 2000 to Set Aside or Vary Interlocutory Orders Made by Gray J and Varied by the Full Court
Outcome
The earlier interlocutory order was further varied by imposing reciprocal restraints on industrial action and recording BHPIO's undertaking as to compensation.
Legal Topics
['protected Industrial Action' 'workplace Agreements' 'certified Agreement Negotiations' 'interlocutory Injunctions' 'balance of Convenience' 'variation of Interlocutory Orders' 'section 298 M Workplace Relations Act 1996']
['industrial Law' 'employment Law' 'equity and Interlocutory Injunctions'] ['protected Industrial Action' 'workplace Agreements' 'certified Agreement Negotiations' 'interlocutory Injunctions' 'balance of Convenience' 'variation of Interlocutory Orders' 'section 298 M Workplace Relations Act 1996']

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Procedural Posture

Federal Court Proceeding Concerning Interlocutory Injunctive Relief in an Industrial Dispute / Adjourned Hearing of the Respondent's Motion Dated 6 June 2000 to Set Aside or Vary Interlocutory Orders Made by Gray J and Varied by the Full Court

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether the existing interlocutory injunction restraining BHPIO from offering or entering individual workplace agreements should be set aside or varied after the unions gave notice of further industrial action.' 'Whether the first to fifth applicants should be restrained from organising or engaging in industrial action while they retained the benefit of the interlocutory injunction against BHPIO.' 'Whether any restraint should also apply to BHPIO engaging in industrial action, including lockout action, for reasons of mutuality.']

Ratio Decidendi

Because the unions had obtained the protection of the Court's interlocutory order preserving the utility of their claim until trial, it would be inequitable and contrary to the Court's interest in preserving the integrity of its proceedings to allow them to exert industrial pressure while BHPIO remained restrained from using an industrial weapon arguably available to it. Rather than dissolve the injunction against BHPIO, which could allow non-party employees to acquire rights under workplace agreements that might later be held to have contravened s 298M, the appropriate course was to impose a complementary interlocutory restraint on the first to fifth applicants and, for mutuality, a...

Court Disposition

The earlier interlocutory order was further varied by imposing reciprocal restraints on industrial action and recording BHPIO's undertaking as to compensation.

Orders

  • ['The order of Gray J of 31 January 2000 as varied by the order of the Full Court of 7 April 2000 be further varied by adding before paragraph 1 a note that the respondent by its Counsel undertakes to the Court to submit to such order, if any, as the Court may consider just for payment of compensation to any person...