The evaluation of the short-term impacts of the Employment Relations Act was undertaken by the Department of Labour. The evaluation focused on the extent to which the Act’s intermediate objectives, such as the promotion of collective bargaining and the requirement for good faith in employment relationships, have been realised since the Act was brought into effect. The evaluation used a mixed methods approach including five main sources of data: national surveys of employers and employees, case study research involving employees and employers and unions, a survey of all registered unions, and interviews with unions.
Key Results
There has been limited impact so far of the ERA on most employers, particularly those in small workplaces.
The majority of employers were aware of the good faith obligation and the requirement for written agreements. Use of written agreements has increased, but many employees, particularly in smaller workplaces, still do not have formal agreements. Most employers considered themselves to be acting in accordance with the good faith obligation but interpretations of what good faith means varied. Unions expressed concern about the inability to enforce good faith provisions.
There has been relatively little change seen so far in the extent and coverage of collective bargaining. Increases tended to be in areas where there is existing union coverage and a history of unionisation at the workplace, most notably in the public sector. Low growth in union membership and resources, and free-riding by non union employees on collective terms and conditions, were perceived to be key barriers to greater collective coverage. The research suggests there has been some increase in willingness to enter into collective bargaining but ongoing difficulties in some areas.
Many employees were unaware of the role of unions and have a low demand for union services seeing little value in them. Many of these employees have had little experience of unions, were often in workplaces with no union presence and individual arrangements. Parties were often satisfied with their existing arrangements. Many new unions have emerged providing site specific representation for groups of employees but these represent only a fraction of total union membership.
Most employers and many employees perceived bargaining power to be equal at their workplaces. Where there were perceived changes since the introduction of the ERA, employers and employees saw bargaining power as slightly favouring employees. Some unions perceived the ERA to have improved their union’s ability to get a new collective, to increase members wages and improve other terms and conditions.
Most employers and employees would prefer to deal with employment relationship problems directly with each other. There is a reluctance to involve a third party. Most who had used mediation services, viewed them favourably.
The research showed that unions have been most active in those sectors where they had a presence before the Act was introduced, partly because of their resource constraints. There has been little increase in the levels of union coverage as a proportion of the workforce since the ERA was introduced.