A sign-here form promised to cut three allowances. The Commission had other ideas

A sign-here form can't undo what an enterprise agreement promises. GrainCorp learned that at the Fair Work Commission.

In a decision handed down on May 22, 2026, the Fair Work Commission told grain handler GrainCorp it cannot use a consent form to switch off travel allowances its workers are owed.

The case pitted the Australian Workers' Union against GrainCorp Operations Limited, a company that ran more than 150 regional sites and, at the time it lodged the agreement, employed 1,885 casuals. At the centre were "outload casuals" - grain handlers hired outside the October-to-January harvest season who load and unload trucks and trains, clean, and handle maintenance.

The trouble was the travel. Outload casuals can be required to move between sites - to cover absences, use their skills where they are needed, train, or handle emergencies. GrainCorp also offers extra shifts at other sites when a usual workplace is closed, for example for fumigation, and a casual can accept or decline those. One outload casual gave evidence that in a single week he drove between four sites in his own car, covering 233 kilometres on the Monday alone. He was paid a per-kilometre rate, he said, but nothing for his travel time.

The union asked the Commission to sort out who pays. The answer turned on an "undertaking," a written promise GrainCorp gave the Commission to get its 2024 enterprise agreement approved. That...

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