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33: Duty of good faith requires parties to conclude collective agreement unless genuine reason not to
or “ Unions and employers must try their best to agree on rules for workers, unless they have a really good reason not to. ”
You could also call this:

“Rules for asking for and sharing information when workers and bosses talk about job agreements”

When you’re part of a union or an employer and you’re trying to make a collective agreement, you might need to ask for information from the other side. Here’s how you should do it:

You need to write down your request. In your request, you should explain clearly what information you want. You also need to say why you want this information and how it relates to what you’re asking for in the agreement. You should give a fair amount of time for the other side to give you the information.

When you get a request for information, you can give it directly to the other side. But if you think the information is private, you can give it to someone called an independent reviewer instead. Both sides need to agree on who this reviewer will be.

The reviewer will look at the information and decide if it should be kept private. They’ll tell both sides what they’ve decided. If the information is private, the reviewer will decide if it helps prove what either side is saying. They’ll tell both sides about this without sharing the private information.

Unless both sides agree to something different, the information and what the reviewer says about it can only be used for this specific agreement. The people working on the agreement must keep it secret and not tell anyone else, even people who would be affected by the agreement.

This process doesn’t change anything in the Privacy Act 2020. Also, if the employer is a government organisation, they can’t use the Official Information Act 1982 to avoid giving information that’s needed for the agreement, except in very special cases.

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Next up: 35: Codes of good faith

or “Rules that help people be fair and honest when talking about jobs and work”
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Part 5 Collective bargaining
Good faith

34Providing information in bargaining for collective agreement

  1. This section applies for the purposes of section 32(1)(e).

  2. A request by a union or an employer to the other for information must—

  3. be in writing; and
    1. specify the nature of the information requested in sufficient detail to enable the information to be identified; and
      1. specify the claim or the response to a claim in respect of which information to support or substantiate the claim or the response is requested; and
        1. specify a reasonable time within which the information is to be provided.

          1. A union or an employer must provide the information requested—

          2. direct to the other; or
            1. to an independent reviewer if the union or employer providing the information reasonably considers that it should be treated as confidential information.

              1. A person must not act as an independent reviewer unless appointed by mutual agreement of the union and employer.

              2. As soon as practicable after receiving information under subsection (3), an independent reviewer must—

              3. decide whether and, if so, to what extent the information should be treated as confidential; and
                1. advise the union and employer concerned of the decision.

                  1. If an independent reviewer decides that the information should be treated as confidential, the independent reviewer must—

                  2. decide whether and, if so, to what extent the information supports or substantiates the claim or the response to a claim in respect of which the information is requested; and
                    1. advise the union and employer concerned of the decision in a way that maintains the confidentiality of the information; and
                      1. answer any questions from the union or employer that requested the information, in a way that maintains the confidentiality of the information.

                        1. Unless the union and employer otherwise agree, information provided under subsection (3) and advice and answers provided under subsections (5) and (6)—

                        2. must be used only for the purposes of the bargaining concerned; and
                          1. must be treated as confidential by the persons conducting the bargaining concerned; and
                            1. must not be disclosed by those persons to anyone else, including persons who would be bound by the collective agreement being bargained for.

                              1. This section does not limit or affect the Privacy Act 2020.

                              2. Nothing in the Official Information Act 1982 (except section 6) enables an employer that is subject to that Act to withhold information that is required under section 32(1)(e).

                              Notes
                              • Section 34(8): amended, on , by section 217 of the Privacy Act 2020 (2020 No 31).