Representation of Employees & Union Access

Part Three of the Employment Relations Act provides for the creation of one of the most fundamental of all employee rights in employment relations, freedom of association (i.e. voluntary unionism).

IMPORTANT NOTE: If a union official seeks access to premises under your control, you should initially decline to grant access until you have discussed the matter with your Regional Manager and confirm approval from Head Office HR. The Company may not unreasonably withhold agreement to access, but has up to two days to make that decision. If in doubt, ask.

The main features of freedom of association as it applies under the ER Act are:

Union membership or non-membership is a free choice for each employee.
“Closed shop” arrangements are prohibited as are conditions of contract precluding union membership.
Preference or discrimination on the grounds of membership or non-membership of a union is prohibited.
Exerting undue influence or duress on a person to induce them to join, leave or not become a union member is prohibited.

Note: Where employees join a registered Union, Section 18 of the ER Act confers on the Union the right to:

Represent its members in relation to any matter involving their collective interests as employees.
Represent an employee in relation to the employee’s individual rights as an employee.

Policy

Our policy is to recognise the role that unions play within the employment relations system but not to the detriment of sound management practice.

In determining employment relations matters, we will give union officials and union delegates representing employees the right to be heard in an endeavour to persuade management in its decision-making, by any proper means, acting within the law – whilst still retaining the right of management to explain its views to employees on any matter at issue.

Rights of Unions

Under the Employment Relations Act, unions have the following key legal rights:

Right to organise and form groups of employees into a union body.
Right of access to an employer’s premises, provided the union has a collective agreement with the employer, or bargaining has been initiated for one, at any reasonable time when employees are employed on the premises, for purposes of recruitment, negotiation, ensuring compliance, discussing union business, supplying information and dealing with health/safety matters. If a union has no collective agreement with the employer, and bargaining has not been initiated, then access is subject to the employer’s consent, which must not unreasonably be withheld.
Right to bargain for collective agreements.
Right to be a party to a collective employment agreement.
Right to have members attend paid employment relations education leave.
Right to exercise delegated authority on behalf of their members.
Right to take legal enforcement action against the employer(s) concerned on behalf of their members.
Right to strike during collective bargaining, subject to satisfying certain criteria.
Right to hold two paid union meetings of members, each of up to 2 hours duration, per year.
Right to require employers to make union fee deductions.

Union Access to Business Premises

It is important that we have a uniform approach that complies with the law, should union officials seek access to our premises or work sites under our control.

Subject to certain conditions, representatives of unions may enter workplaces for purposes related to the employment of members of the union, purposes related to the union’s business, or purposes related to the health and safety of any employee on the premises who is not a member of the union, if the employee requests the assistance of a union representative on such matters.

We do not currently have a collective agreement in place and bargaining has not been initiated for a collective agreement. Therefore, union access to our premises is subject to our consent, which must not unreasonably be withheld. We must respond to the union official's request for access as soon as practicable, but note that if we do not respond to the union within 2 days, access is deemed to have been granted.

In addition to meeting with Union members, the representative may also meet with non-union members who agree to do so, provided the union official concerned reasonably believes that the membership rule of the union covers the type of work being undertaken by the employees in that workplace.

The union official may visit workplaces at any reasonable time when employees are employed to work in the workplace. In accessing the premises the union official must do so in a reasonable way having regard to normal business operations in the workplace and must comply with all existing procedures and requirements applying in respect of that workplace which relate to safety, health or security. Such procedures must be reasonable and apply to entry to the premises in general. That is, they must not be procedures put in place simply to restrict the access of the union official.

On entering a workplace, the union official must at the time of the initial entry, and at any other time if requested by us, advise us of the purpose of the entry, and produce evidence of the official’s identity and evidence of his or her authority to represent the union concerned. If the union official cannot locate the manager or a representative of the management, the official is required to leave a written notice setting out the name of the official, the union concerned, the time and date of the entry and the reason for the entry.

The union official must comply with the above requirements otherwise we can legitimately refuse access.