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Employment Relations Act 2000

Collective bargaining - Good faith

33: Duty of good faith requires parties to conclude collective agreement unless genuine reason not to

You could also call this:

“Be fair and try to agree when making a workplace deal, unless you have a really good reason not to.”

When you are bargaining for a collective agreement, you and the other party must try to reach an agreement. You must do this in good faith, as stated in section 4. This means you should conclude a collective agreement unless there is a genuine reason not to.

A genuine reason does not include opposing a collective agreement because you do not like the idea of one. It also does not include disagreeing about including a bargaining fee clause under Part 6B in a collective agreement. It does not include the existence of an unsettled pay equity claim between an employer and a claimant under the Equal Pay Act 1972.

If you do not want to conclude a multi-employer collective agreement, that can be a genuine reason if you have reasonable grounds for opposing it. A multi-employer collective agreement is a single collective agreement involving two or more employers. However, clause 6 of Schedule 1B overrides this rule.

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32: Good faith in bargaining for collective agreement, or

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Part 5 Collective bargaining
Good faith

33Duty of good faith requires parties to conclude collective agreement unless genuine reason not to

  1. The duty of good faith in section 4 requires a union and an employer bargaining for a collective agreement to conclude a collective agreement unless there is a genuine reason, based on reasonable grounds, not to.

  2. For the purposes of subsection (1), genuine reason does not include—

  3. opposition or objection in principle to—
    1. bargaining for, or being a party to, a collective agreement; or
      1. including rates of wages or salary in a collective agreement; or
      2. disagreement about including a bargaining fee clause under Part 6B in a collective agreement; or
        1. the existence of an unsettled pay equity claim between an employer and a claimant under the Equal Pay Act 1972.

              1. For the purposes of subsection (1), opposition to concluding a multi-employer collective agreement is a genuine reason not to conclude a collective agreement if that opposition is based on reasonable grounds.

              2. Clause 6 of Schedule 1B overrides subsection (3).

              3. In this section and in clause 6 of Schedule 1B, multi-employer collective agreement means a single collective agreement involving 2 or more employers.

              Notes
              • Section 33: replaced, on , by section 14 of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2018 (2018 No 53).
              • Section 33(2)(c): inserted, on , by section 33 of the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 45).
              • Section 33(2)(d): repealed, on , by section 51 of the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 21).
              • Section 33(2)(e): repealed, on , by section 7(1) of the Fair Pay Agreements Act Repeal Act 2023 (2023 No 65).