Adding employers and their employees to a cooperative workplace agreement

A cooperative workplace agreement can be varied to cover additional employers and their employees.

This can only happen if the new employer and their affected employees agree to be covered.

To indicate agreement, the employer may hold a vote for the affected employees. A majority must genuinely agree to the variation.

The vote may be conducted by a ballot or by an electronic method.

The employer must then apply to us for approval of the variation. The employer has 14 days after voting closes to apply. The variation has no effect unless it is approved by us.

There is a different process to remove employers and employees from multi-enterprise agreements.

We must approve a variation if it is satisfied that:

• the employers and any unions who were covered by the agreement before the variation was made have had an opportunity to express their views to us
• the affected employees have voted and a majority of those who cast a valid vote approved the variation
• the variation has been genuinely agreed to by the affected employees
• it is not contrary to the public interest for the new employer and their affected employees to be covered by the agreement.

We must not approve a variation if:

• the agreement is a greenfields agreement
• an agreement that covers employees in relation to building and construction work
• the variation would result in an agreement that covers employees in relation to general building and construction work
• the new employer is specified in a supported bargaining authorisation or single interest employer authorisation in relation to any of the employees to be covered.

Use the following forms to apply to vary the single interest employer bargaining agreement to add employers and their employees.

Follow the instructions on each form. The form will explain how to lodge or submit it to us.

To apply to vary a cooperative workplace agreement to add an employer and their employees, use our Form F23I.

A cooperative workplace agreement is a type of multi-enterprise agreement. You can find more information on our Change an agreement page.

For a legal definition of what we must consider when approving or refusing an application to vary a cooperative workplace agreement to add an employer and their employees, see section 216CB of the Fair Work Act 2009.