Employees involved in making and/or repairing jewellery can perform several different roles. Some of these roles include:

• trade qualified jewellers
• production line assemblers
• repair technicians
• designers.

Jewellery can be made from precious and nonprecious materials. Precious materials include gold, diamonds or other precious gems. Non-precious materials include plated nickel, acrylic, plastic beads or recycled materials.

Jewellery makers and repairers can work across a variety of workplaces including:

• manufacturing facilities
• repair shops
• retail shops.

Award coverage for jewellery makers and repairers depends on several factors, including the:

• primary purpose of the business they work for
• nature of the work performed
• work setting the employee normally works in
• employee’s level of skill or qualification.

Businesses sometimes operate in more than one industry. An employer can be covered by more than one award, depending on the jobs the employees do.

Retail Award

The Retail Award can cover a jewellery maker or repairer if:

• their employer is in the general retail industry
• they make or repair jewellery at a retail establishment or shop
• there’s a classification that includes their duties, skills, competence and qualification.

The general retail industry is the selling or hiring goods or services (such as repair work) directly to customers for personal, household or business use.

For example, a jewellery business could be in the retail industry if they:

• sell jewellery they get from a supplier in a shop or online
• run a watch and jewellery repair service in a shopping centre
• sell jewellery made in the company’s own factory in their own chain of shops
• sell custom designed wedding rings at a retail shop.

The retail award includes classifications for tradespeople and employees doing minor repairs. It doesn’t include classifications for non-tradespeople who are primarily making jewellery.

Manufacturing Award

A jewellery maker may be covered by the Manufacturing Award if:

• the employer’s business, or part of it, operates within the manufacturing industry
• the employee’s duties align with a classification listed in the Award.

The manufacturing industry includes manufacturing, making, assembling, fabricating, repairing, reconditioning, maintaining:

• jewellery, watches and clocks (including cases), badges, name-plates, precious metal products and precious stones
• all products made from, or containing, steel, iron, metal, sheet metal, tin, brass, copper and non-ferrous metal
• articles made from wire
• clay and ceramic articles
• products made from or containing resin, plastic, rubber, or substitutes for plastic or rubber.

Example

Some jewellery businesses or parts of a businesses that could be in the manufacturing industry include businesses that:

• produce jewellery primarily for sale to suppliers or retail stores, rather than directly to end consumers or the public
• manufacture jewellery in a factory and sell it through their own retail outlet or chain of stores
• create custom pieces in a studio or workshop and sell them at markets
• repair jewellery under contract for retail businesses, without direct sales or services to the public.

The Manufacturing Award includes classifications for both trade qualified and unqualified jewellery makers and repairers.

Employers covered by both awards

Some jewellery makers and repairers work for businesses that operate in both the retail and manufacturing industries. In such cases, employees are covered by the award that:

• contains the most appropriate classification for the work they perform
• best reflects the environment they normally work in.