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[Extract from Queensland Government Industrial Gazette,

dated 26 August, 2005, Vol. 179, No.19, pages 889-891]

QUEENSLAND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION

Industrial Relations Act 1999 – s. 229 – arbitration of industrial dispute

Chiaki Jones and Others AND Watabe Australia Pty Ltd t/a Avica Weddings and Resort (No. B575 of 2005)

COMMISSIONER BECHLY 11 August 2005

DECISION

This matter has been referred to me for arbitration pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 7 Part 2 s. 230(3) of the Industrial Relations Act 1999. The issue upon which arbitration is sought is whether certain persons, employees of Watabe Australia Pty Ltd are parties to the Avica Weddings and Resort Certified Agreement 2001.

The persons who are the applicants in these proceedings are employed by Watabe Australia Pty Ltd predominantly as wedding consultants. Some are employed as drivers of limousines.

Watabe Australia Pty Ltd is engaged in the wedding business primarily of Japanese couples but also including Australians and other nationalities.

In Australia it conducts business at Hamilton Island, Cairns, Gold Coast and Sydney.

At the Gold Coast it conducts its business through two divisions known as the Gold Coast Branch on the one hand and Avica Weddings and Resort on the other.

Avica Weddings and Resort is situated at Merimac. It is a large property and contains a resort accommodation/function building, external chapel, external function facilities, bridal centre building from which Gold Coast Branch employees work and a separate building housing the head office of Watabe Australia Pty Ltd. In the surrounds are gardens and a lake.

This property was purchased by Watabe in 1999 for redevelopment for use by it in the conduct of its business. Accommodation facilities had not been part of its business until that time.

It was decided at that time to have a certified agreement to provide for the particular nature of the conduct of the business associated with the accommodation/resort.

An agreement titled Avica Weddings and Resort Certified Agreement 2001 was approved by the Commission with an operative date of 15 February 2002. At the time the Agreement was negotiated there were twenty-three persons employed in the conduct of the accommodation/resort facility and grounds.

The relevant Award relied upon was the Accommodation Industry (other than hotels) Award – South-Eastern Division. The Agreement essentially drew upon the Award for its classification and wage levels. Apart from some employment conditions the essence of the Agreement was the provision of aggregated wage rates to take into account the twenty-four hour, seven-day per week activities of the business.

When the Agreement was first dealt with by the Commission the Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union, Queensland Branch, Union of Employees (ALHMWU) opposed the making of the Agreement in its then form but, subsequent to later discussions between the then parties, at the direction of the Commission, a document was presented and approved.

At the time the Agreement was negotiated Avica Weddings and Resort employed only persons who were directly engaged in the provision of hospitality services to guests such as accommodation, meals, refreshments, administration and ground maintenance. It did not employ persons in the capacity of wedding consultants at that time. It was the Gold Coast Branch which employed wedding consultants. At some later time Avica Weddings and Resort did engage wedding consultants but not as employees bound by the agreement. Their role is different from the role of Gold Coast Branch consultants.

Watabe Australia Pty Ltd maintained a separate payroll and financial reporting processes for Avica Weddings and Resort as it did for what it designates the Gold Coast Branch and also other operations employing persons known as wedding coordinators.

The issue to be determined is whether the persons employed by the Gold Coast Branch mainly as wedding coordinators are bound by the Certified Agreement established to provide employment conditions for persons engaged in providing hospitality services to guests at the Avica Wedding and Resort facility.

It is clear on the evidence that that must be answered in the negative.


Employees on the Gold Coast Branch payroll did not participate in the various processes required by the Act in the lead-up to the certification of the Agreement.

There is no classification of Wedding Coordinator provided in the Agreement. This is a most important role and one which does not fit in with the various classifications contained in the parent award used as the basis of the Agreement.

The parties to the Agreement are Watabe Australia Pty Ltd, the legal entity required to be named as the employer, the ALHMWU and “all the employees employed by the Employer at its Avica Weddings and Resort Complex” other than certain salaried staff.

It is clear that it was the intention of the parties that the Agreement would be binding only upon the employees directly providing hospitality services provided for within the classification structure at the resort complex.

While it is true that the Gold Coast Branch operates out of a building within the grounds of the complex it cannot be reasonably said that the relevant employees are employed “at the Complex”.

The role of the Gold Coast Branch Wedding Coordinators is to ensure that weddings which have been entirely contracted in Japan are conducted without problems in South-East Queensland.

While some weddings are conducted at the Complex the greater proportion of the weddings contracted in Japan are conducted at sites ranging from Brisbane churches and tourist centres and churches located at other tourist centres, golf course chapels on the Gold Coast and in hinterland areas.

This was not a concept provided for in the Certified Agreement.

It has been proposed that the duties of the Gold Coast Branch Wedding Coordinators fit within a range of the hospitality classifications in the Certified Agreement and thus the agreement lawfully applies to their employment.

The duties referred to are remote and incidental and, for the most, form only a minor aspect of their real role.

The principal function of the Gold Coast Branch Wedding Coordinators is to ensure that the commitments made by Watabe Weddings Pty Ltd to the bridal party when the contract is entered into in Japan are met in Australia by ensuring that the wedding function is conducted to the entire satisfaction of the bridal party. This includes the selection and fitting of wedding attire, transport of the bride and groom from hotel to wedding service, transport to reception, return to accommodation and subsequent retrieval of wedding attire and laundry/repair if necessary. The role of the Consultant is, as part of a team, to make the day perfect and memorable for the bridal party at any location where the wedding service is performed and a reception held.

Interspersed within this timeframe is attention to the bride’s make-up, reassurance and confidence building for nervous brides and grooms, assistance in cases of illness or travel sickness when driving to location of wedding, assisting bride at photographic shoots and ensuring that make-up and wedding attire is at its best, translating the words of the celebrant, offering a glass of champagne to celebrate the wedding, attending the bridal party at a reception, if held, to carry orders for drinks to wait staff or, in the case of a smorgasbord meal, to select and carry the meal to the bride and groom.

It is apparent and was acknowledged during the evidence, that this role is much akin to that of a bridesmaid or matron-of-honour.

On a consideration of the whole of the evidence it is abundantly clear that although Watabe Australia Pty Ltd is the legal entity, it conducts a number of activities which trade as separate entities and have completely separate financial accounting records.

It is for one of these entities that the Avica Wedding and Resort Complex Certified Agreement was first made in 2001.

That Agreement, while it has not been retired from, has been superseded by a similar agreement negotiated in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. That Agreement stipulates that the employer is Watabe Weddings Australia Pty Ltd trading as Avica Weddings and Resort.

While it was proposed that this change in name was an attempt to disadvantage the applicants I would consider it to be a reasonable precaution to ensure clarity as to who the Agreement is intended to cover.

The later Agreement is in similar terms as the original Agreement with respect to classification structure. It would appear that the applicants in this matter were not involved in the process of making that Agreement either.


The continued existence of the 2001 Agreement registered in this Commission is a matter which should be dealt with by the parties, these being Watabe Australia Pty Ltd, the ALHMWU and the employees who, as has been made clear by this decision, do not include wedding consultants, beauty department employees, drivers etc., who are employed on the payroll of the Gold Coast Branch employees.

This matter came to the Commission by way of a dispute notification pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 7 Part 2 of the Act about the rate of pay for Gold Coast Branch employees.

The matter brought to the Commission for arbitration is whether the 2001 Certified Agreement applied to the Gold Coast Branch employees. Although it has been found that the 2001 Certified Agreement has no application to the Gold Coat Branch Employees there still remains a dispute about rates of pay for Gold Coast Branch employees. Where an award of this Commission exists which covers the nature of the work, e.g. driving, laundry work, clothing alterations and repairs etc., then that Award provides wage rates and conditions to be applied to the employees concerned. Where no award exists which covers the nature of work performed, contractual arrangements are able to be negotiated between the parties. Such contractual arrangements are capable of being entered into by award and non-award covered employees.

A course now open to the Gold Coast Branch employees is to seek to enter into a certified agreement with Watabe Weddings Australia Pty Ltd about the various duties carried out by them in their employment.

R.E. BECHLY, Commissioner.
Hearing Details:
2005 11-13 July (Southport) / Appearances:
Mr P.Wulf Counsel for the Applicants.
Mr A.A.J Horneman-Wren instructed by TressCox Lawyers on behalf of the Respondent.
Released: 11 August 2005

Government Printer, Queensland

ÓThe State of Queensland 2005.