A Brisbane night-fill worker has won an important legal battle in a massive underpayment case against the combined might of Coles and one of the largest trade unions in Australia.
Coles worker Penny Vickers, who was representing herself, won the right for a full bench hearing in the Fair Work Commission against the arguments of high-powered lawyers from the company and the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees (SDA).
Her case is the latest attempt to unwind controversial deals struck by the politically influential SDA with major companies which have left workers out of pocket.
A 12-month Fairfax Media investigation revealed how deals involving big business and the conservative SDA left more than 250,000 workers paid less than the award - the wages safety net - and is estimated to have saved those employers at least $300 million a year.
Coles has been embroiled in an underpayment scandal for two years, after Fairfax Media revealed its most recent union deal had collectively left workers tens of millions of dollars a year worse off.
In a landmark decision, the full bench of the Fair Work Commission found that the 2014 agreement failed the "better off overall test". It was brought by Duncan Hart, a Brisbane trolley operator.
Coles was eventually forced to revert to an earlier agreement, struck in 2011. But Ms Vickers is challenging that deal too, arguing workers were still being underpaid due to below-award pay rates.
Ms Vickers had applied for a full bench hearing, arguing it was in the public interest. Late on Friday night Fair Work vice-president Adam Hatcher agreed to her request.
Her case had barely moved since it was lodged nearly a year ago at Fair Work, with legal fighting over the release of information on the pay details of workers
Ms Vickers wants a random sample of retail workers' pay details to have them analysed by her father, an actuary, to determine how many staff are underpaid.
She claims a bid by Coles and the union to have their own "hand-picked" selection of workers to give evidence to the tribunal would mask the true extent of underpayments.
Now the full bench hearing - the highest level of adjudication at Fair Work - raises the stakes in a case that could remake the pay and conditions of nearly 80,000 workers.
It will most likely involve complex arguments over what to do about workers who have been paid above the award and others who have been paid below.
Greens workplace spokesman Adam Bandt has already proposed changes to the Fair Work Act to protect workers from SDA-style wage deals that traded away penalty rates with inadequate compensation.
Such amendments would ensure workers on collective agreements have their pay compared to the minimum full rate of pay in the award - which includes casual loadings and penalty rates - rather than just the minimum base hourly rate.
Mr Bandt's amendments are subject to a Senate inquiry. Senator Nick Xenophon has proposed a second Senate inquiry into the wage scandal involving the union's deals with big companies including McDonald's, Coles, Woolworths and KFC.
The SDA has caused political problems for Labor, its largest affiliate. The union's sub-standard wage deals have undermined Labor's arguments as it opposes a draft decision to cut penalty rates for fast food, retail and hospitality workers.
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