Recognition, post-2021
The 2021 amendments to the Industrial Relations Act 1967 reshaped recognition: competing unions, secret-ballot determinations by the Director General for Trade Union Affairs, and tighter timelines for the employer's response to a claim under section 9. The window to respond is short and the wrong first letter is hard to unwind — recognition claims should reach counsel the day they arrive.
Negotiating the collective agreement
A collective agreement binds for at least three years and, once cognisance is taken by the Industrial Court, has the force of an award. We prepare the mandate (cost every proposal before the first session, not after the last), sit at the table where wanted, and draft article language that HR can administer — prohibition-of-strike clauses, retrenchment articles, promotion and transfer prerogatives preserved in words that survive interpretation disputes under section 56.
Trade disputes and industrial action
Where bargaining stalls, we manage the escalation path — conciliation, reference to the Industrial Court, and the strict pre-conditions the Act places on lawful industrial action. Most disputes settle in conciliation; the ones that do not are won on costing papers and bargaining history, which is why we keep both from day one.