Adding employers and their employees to a supported bargaining agreement

Once a supported bargaining agreement has been made, it may be varied to cover additional employers and their employees.

A variation may be made:

• jointly by the employers and their employees, or
• by a union, if a majority of the employees to be covered want to be covered.

The variation has no effect unless it is approved by us.

There are also provisions to remove employers and employees from multi-enterprise agreements.

Employers and their employees can agree to vary a supported bargaining agreement to be included in the agreement’s coverage. This is a joint variation.

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

The employer must then apply to us to approve the variation. The employer has 14 days after voting closes to apply.

Unless there are serious public interest grounds, we must approve the application if:

• the supported bargaining authorisation application had specified the affected employer and their employees and we would be required to make the authorisation including them
• a majority of the affected employees who cast a valid vote approved the variation, and
• the variation has been genuinely agreed.

We cannot approve a variation to a supported bargaining agreement to add an employer and their employees if it would result in the agreement covering general building and construction work.

A union covered by a supported bargaining agreement can apply to vary the agreement to cover additional employers and their employees.

A majority of the additional employees must want to be covered by that agreement.

When determining if it is appropriate for the employees to be covered by the agreement, we will take into account:

• the views of the employer
• the views of any other unions covered by the agreement
• the same aspects we must take into account when deciding whether or not to make a supported bargaining authorisation, such as pay and conditions, common interests, bargaining representation and any other appropriate matters.

You can find more detail about these on the Supported bargaining authorisations page.

Use the following forms to apply to vary a supported 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. 

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

Fair Work Act 2009: section 216A and section 216B