How to negotiate and implement an enterprise bargaining agreement
An Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) or Certified Agreement (CA) is a result of consultation among management, employees, and unions (if they are on site or employees request their involvement). These agreements should increase productivity for the organisation through workplace reform, thus benefiting employees and customers as well. The process is best suited to companies with a good management-worker relationship and a high level of mutual trust. Here are the basics...
1. Decide what you can get out of an EBA.
An EBA provides an ideal opportunity to look critically at your organisation to eliminate its inefficiencies and to increase its level of responsiveness to the benefit of all those associated with it. The EBA process integrates strategic workplace reform programs with the corporate planning process, so it will require the support of all key stakeholders - management, employees, and unions. Relationships at all levels, especially at the senior management level, will need to change from control- to commitment-driven.
2. Establish consultative structures.
Developing an EBA requires a highly consultative approach to replace the adversarial, stratified systems of industrial relations traditionally used to manage workplace change. Although, initially, you may opt for a top-down approach, a structure must be in place that allows for consultation among all stakeholders. Larger organisations may need to establish a joint sponsored project team made up of stakeholders’ representatives. Consultation is a slow but essential process requiring the following steps:
- invite input from employees
- collate their feedback
- identify issues
- discuss those issues with stakeholders
- conduct workshops involving those affected
- present a draft agreement to all concerned
- produce a final agreement, vote on it, and get it registered.
3. Build incentives into the agreement.
Opportunities exist for group and individual bonuses to be built into the agreement. By operating from a position that all salary increases are tied to achievement of key performance indicators, consultation among those directly involved will identify bonus opportunities. Employee gains would include:
- more interesting jobs with more responsibility
- more pay for more effort and skills
- the possibility of tailoring working hours more to their requirements
- job security for the term of the EBA
- increased voice in all things affecting the workplace.
Conditions and benefits for worker negotiation might include:
product and service discounts, child-care, health or recreation facilities, job redesign, flexitime, counselling, company cars, relocation or transfer expenses, parental leave, uniforms, training, job security, journal subscriptions, provision of tools, employee participation, insurance, multiskilling, expenses (telephone, power, travel), rostered days off, increased annual leave, membership of associations, superannuation or retirement benefits…
Employees need to know that, in return, such issues as these may affect them: pressure to keep improving productivity, some jobs may vanish, and changes to conditions of service, including hours of work, removal of restrictive work practices, no strike clauses, and so on.
