Starting work and negotiating an agreement
Choosing between collective or individual agreements
Choosing between a collective or individual agreement when you start work
Employment Relations Act 2000, ss 56(1), 62โ63B
If thereโs a collective agreement in your workplace when you start work and you already belong to the relevant union, then youโll be covered by this agreement automatically.
If you donโt belong to the union, the employer must tell you about the collective agreement. You then have 30 days to decide whether to join the union and come under the collective, or whether to negotiate a different individual agreement instead. In the meantime, during the 30 days, youโll be covered by an individual agreement that includes the same terms as the collective agreement.
If at the end of the 30 days you decide you donโt want to join the union, you and the employer can mutually agree to change the individual agreement that was based on the collective agreement in the workplace.
If thereโs no collective agreement, then youโll be on an individual employment agreement. The terms of your individual agreement will be whatever you negotiate with your employer.
If Iโm under a collective agreement, can I still negotiate terms as an individual?
Employment Relations Act 2000, s 61ย
You as an individual can negotiate your own additional terms while still being part of the collective agreement, if the additional terms arenโt inconsistent with the collective agreement. This means that the additional terms must deal with issues not covered by the collective agreement, or must be better than the minimum terms in the collective agreement.
