Industrial Relations Act 2016

The negotiating parties must negotiate in good faith.

Without limiting subsection (1), each party must do the following things—

attend and participate in bargaining meetings;

disclose relevant information, other than confidential or commercially sensitive information, in a timely way;

genuinely consider proposals made by other parties and—

respond in a timely way; and

give reasons for the party’s response;

not engage in capricious or unfair conduct that undermines freedom of association or the collective bargaining process.

Without limiting subsection (2)(b), the parties must obtain, and disclose as soon as practicable after the start of negotiations, information relevant to the gender pay gap under the proposed instrument, including—

the distribution of the employees by gender; and

details of the gender pay gap; and

any major factors identified as contributing to the gender pay gap; and

if appropriate, the projected effect of the proposed instrument on the gender pay gap; and

other information relevant to the gender pay gap reasonably requested by another party to the negotiations; and

other information relevant to the gender pay gap prescribed by regulation.

For subsection (3), the gender pay gap under the proposed instrument is the difference between the average weekly full-time equivalent earnings of male employees and female employees covered by the proposed instrument.

Subject to subsections (1) and (2), the negotiating parties may make an agreement about procedures or principles for the conduct of the bargaining process.