Record how and when employees vote

You are ready to conduct the employee vote after the access period has passed. Make sure you meet the timeframes, or you may have to start the process again.

It is common for all employees to vote on the same day. The voting period may also run over several days.

You must keep a record of the voting process. When you apply for approval of the agreement, you need to give us:

• the date voting started
• the date voting finished
• the number of employees covered by the agreement
• the number of employees who voted following the correct process
• the number of employees who voted to approve the agreement.

The law says an agreement is ‘made’ when a majority of eligible employees vote to accept the agreement.

For multi-enterprise agreements, a majority of eligible employees of at least one employer need to vote to accept it.

The employees of any employer in a multi-enterprise agreement may vote not to accept the agreement. In this case the agreement no longer covers that employer and those employees.

After the agreement is made, you can:

• check if your agreement application is ready to lodge
• fill out Form F16 for approval of a single or multi-enterprise agreement (non-greenfields).

If the majority of employees vote against the agreement, bargaining can continue.

The employer can change the agreement and ask employees to vote again .The voting process must always follow the timeframes and requires a 7-day access period.

There is no limit on how many times the employer can hold a vote.

Check your agreement meets the standards. If it does, you are ready to apply for approval.