Coles employee wins right to appeal over union workplace deal

PHOTO: A Coles supermarket worker has won the first round of a battle against a major union. 

A Coles supermarket worker has won the first round of a David and Goliath battle which exposes a major union to claims it sold out its own workers.

Duncan Hart, a student who works part time at a Coles supermarket in Brisbane, took action in the Fair Work Commission claiming that the enterprise bargaining agreement between Coles and his union, the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), left thousands of workers worse off.

In a decision published on Tuesday, the Fair Work Commission granted Mr Hart the right to appeal the approval of the EBA, saying there was an argument to be made the deal failed what is known as the 'better off overall test' (BOOT).

For a workplace agreement to be legal, all employees must be made better off when an agreement is compared to the award.