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Collective and Individual Employment Agreements

Collective and Individual Employment Agreements

The terms and conditions of employment for an employee of the board are either set by a collective agreement (CA) or an individual employment agreement (IEA).

CAs are negotiated by unions, which represent their members by negotiating the terms and conditions of employment on their behalf.

Employees who do not join the union but fall within the coverage of a one of these CAs, are employed using a promulgated individual employment agreement (IEA).

Promulgation is a legal process by which the Secretary of Education sets the terms and conditions of employees employed in schools who are not employed under a CA.

Generally, the terms and conditions of an IEA will match the terms and conditions in the applicable IEA.

What are employees’ rights when it comes to unions?

The law in New Zealand protects workers’ rights to join and belong to a union. Union members must be treated as any other employee and not be disadvantaged because of their union membership.

No one (employers, managers, colleagues, union members or union officials) can threaten or put pressure on an employee to:

  • Be or not to be a union member

  • Act on behalf of other employees

  • Leave their job because they are or aren’t a union member.

Employees have the right to seek representation for any work-related matters.

This includes seeking representation from an advocate, lawyer, or their union.

Unions have paid officials as well as locally elected workplace representatives who are volunteers and act as the local conduit between the union and its members. They can also act on behalf of the interests of union members in their workplace.

You’ll find further useful information on the Employment New Zealandopen_in_new website.

What steps does your principal need to take for new employees with relation to union membership?

If a new employee is a union member, further action is not required.

However, if the employee indicates they are not a union member but are interested in or wish to join a union and there is a CA that covers their work, some steps must be taken.

These steps are delegated to your principal, who can refer to this article on offering employment in a unionised environment.

Can the board offer terms over and above the CA or the promulgated IEA?

The terms and conditions of the CAs (or the promulgated IEAs based on them) cannot be changed or added to by the board, unless the CA or IEA explicitly allows it, or without seeking and obtaining "concurrence" from the Ministry of Education.

Concurrence is formal approval to provide terms and conditions different to, or over and above, those set in the CAs.

For detailed information and the process to gain approval for special or additional employment terms and conditions, please refer to the Ministry of Education's website.

Note: concurrence is not guaranteed.

How are union membership fees deducted from employees’ pay?

Most CAs covering employees in the education sector have clauses explaining how union membership fees are deducted from an employee’s pay:

If a school uses Education Payroll Limited (EPL), union membership fees are deducted automatically by EPL. If not, the school is responsible for managing these deductions.

Some clauses require the school to provide the relevant union with a list of current union members.

For further information on union membership fees, see Deductionsopen_in_new on the Employment New Zealand website.

What happens if a board staff representative is also a union representative?

If your board-elected staff representative is also the union representative, this should be declared as a conflict of interest in board minutes.

It is not the role of a staff representative to use their governance role to raise union or employment matters.

What is ERE (Employment Related Education) leave?

The Employment Relations Act 2000 makes provisions for workplace representatives to undertake paid Employment Relations Education leave through their union.

Some of the education CAs have ERE leave provisions.

Check the relevant CA for the related clauses.

For further information, check the Employment Relations Approved Education Coursesopen_in_new on the Employment New Zealand website.

What is the right of entry (workplace access) for union representatives in the workplace?

By law, paid union representatives have the right to reasonable access to the workplaces of their union members.

A number of the education CAs have clauses that clearly outline how access should be arranged and managed.

For example, the Primary Teachers’ Collective Agreement, Part 2, clause 2.6 states:

“A representative of the union shall be entitled to enter at all reasonable times upon the premises for purposes related to the employment of its members or for purposes related to the union’s business or both. The representative shall enter at a reasonable time and in a reasonable way and comply with existing safety, health and security procedures and requirements applying in respect of the school”.

Refer to the relevant CA for the specific access clause.

For further information on unions accessing workplaces, visit Workplace access open_in_newon the Employment New Zealand website.

Questions your board could ask

  • Does our induction policy and process include informing new employees about their right to join and belong to a union?

  • Does our principal know who the workplace representatives are at our school?

  • What is the nature of the engagements we have with the union officials?

  • Has space been provided on the staff noticeboard or intranet for union notices?

  • Does the principal know how many staff belong to the union, and how many are on Individual Employment Agreements?

Templates, resources, and references

Click on the link(s) below to access this topic’s templates, resources, and references.

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Links from us

Employment New Zealand

Ministry of Education

Collective Agreements – union-specific clauses