The Commission held that for the purposes of Directive 12/12, the 'award wage' comparator is the base wage rate set out in clause 12.3(d) of the Public Service Award for the operational stream, not a notional aggregated award wage calculated by applying award penalty rates to the actual work pattern. The Commission also held that the 'agreement wage' for comparison purposes is not the aggregated salary in the certified agreement but rather the base wage component disaggregated from that aggregated salary, because Directive 12/12 requires a comparison of wages only, construed narrowly to exclude allowances and penalties. If the adjusted award base wage exceeds the disaggregated agreement base wage, the second step requires comparing the full remuneration and conditions (including the award wage applied to the agreement's terms and conditions) against the agreement's aggregated salary to determine whether the directive prevails.
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