Collective bargaining

The duty of good faith applies through all the stages of the collective bargaining process. Employment Services mediators can help at any stage of collective bargaining.

Employers or unions can initiate bargaining by giving the other party or parties an initiation of bargaining notice.

Preparing for collective bargaining may include choosing and training the bargaining team, drafting a potential collective agreement, and setting up the bargaining process agreement.

Choosing and training the bargaining team in preparation for collective bargaining.

Negotiations are part of the collective bargaining process. They refer to any form of discussion, either formal or informal, that is used to reach an agreement.

Unions and employers who are involved in collective bargaining must deal with each other in good faith.

Passing on collective agreement terms to individual employment agreements.

When the bargaining parties have reached agreement, their agreement must be ratified and signed before it is a collective agreement.

If the parties can’t agree, they have several options to choose from. These include asking for help from Employment Mediation Services or the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).

Employees and unions can raise a pay equity claim with an employer for work which may be subject to systemic sex-based discrimination.

Under the Screen Industry Workers Act 2022, parties can bargain collectively to set minimum terms for work done by screen production workers.

• Collective bargaining in the screen industry
• Bargaining for occupational contracts
• Bargaining for enterprise contracts