| Restrictions | OK |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Employment Relations Authority - Christchurch |
| Reference No | CA 177/08 |
| Hearing date | 17 Oct 2008 |
| Determination date | 26 November 2008 |
| Member | J Crichton |
| Representation | T Oldfield ; M Kirk |
| Location | Nelson |
| Parties | Service and Food Workers Union v Sanford Ltd |
| Summary | DISPUTE – Applicant’s member’s current collective employment agreement (“CEA”) contained different wage scale to earlier CEA – Authority found issue was placement of continuing employees on new wage matrix in CEA relative to placement in old CEA – Applicant argued respondent applied percentage increase to employees across the board rather than paying each employee according to wage rate on current CEA matrix – Applicant argued percentage increase never agreed to – Respondent argued applicant overlooked process of transiting wage matrix in old CEA to wage matrix in current CEA – Applicant sought determination requiring respondent pay members in accordance with their interpretation of current CEA together with arrears of wages – Respondent argued applicant allowed it to believe reached agreement on interpretation of current CEA when did not – Respondent argued correctly applied CEA – Authority dismissed respondent’s counterclaim that applicant breached duty of good faith by engaging in misleading conduct – Authority found issue was respondent took applicant’s silence as consent whereas applicant believed having not assented to transition documents then documents not part of agreement – Authority found CEA silent on way employees to be transited from old CEA to new CEA – Authority reluctantly concluded unable to interpret CEA to support either applicant or respondent because CEA silent on meaning parties sought to derive from it – However, more likely applicant ratified CEA on understanding advanced by respondent so applicant’s members assented to respondent’s view |
| Result | Questions answered in favour of respondent ; Costs to lie where they fall |
| Main Category | Dispute |
| Number of Pages | 10 |
| PDF File Link: | ca 177_08.pdf [pdf 35 KB] |