Employee Relations
The everyday matters that become expensive if they're handled badly.
Bargaining is won before anyone sits down at the table
By the time formal negotiations begin, most of the outcome is already determined. Whether you know what your current agreement actually costs. Whether you've worked out which clauses genuinely constrain your operation and which merely annoy you. Whether your leaders understand the position they're being asked to hold. Whether your employees have heard anything from you, or only from the union.
Employers who start preparing when bargaining is initiated are already negotiating from behind.
We provide end-to-end enterprise bargaining support for WA employers, from early strategy through to Fair Work Commission approval, with particular depth in mining, resources, construction and civil.
You might be dealing with
- An enterprise agreement approaching its nominal expiry date
- A first agreement, following a union approach or an employee push
- A bargaining round where your last one went badly and you don't want a repeat
- Claims on the table you can't cost and aren't sure how to respond to
- Protected industrial action, or the credible threat of it
- Internal leadership that isn't aligned on what the company is willing to concede
- An agreement full of legacy clauses that no longer suit how the operation runs
- Multiple agreements across sites that you'd like to harmonise
- An agreement that failed approval, or is at risk of failing the better off overall test
What's included
- Pre-bargaining review Analysis of your current agreement clause by clause: what each provision actually costs, where it constrains you operationally, what has been quietly conceded in previous rounds, and where the real opportunities sit.
- Bargaining strategy Your position on each issue, your priorities, and, critically, your walk-away points, agreed with leadership before negotiations start rather than improvised under pressure at the table.
- Costing and modelling Financial modelling of claims and offers so every position is understood in dollar terms across the life of the agreement. Wage outcomes compound; small percentage differences look trivial in a meeting and significant in year four.
- Employee communication A communication plan that keeps your workforce informed directly throughout. Employers who only communicate at the ballot have left the entire narrative to someone else for months.
- Negotiation We sit at the table with you, or lead negotiations on your behalf. Meeting preparation, minutes, position papers, and management of the day-to-day rhythm of bargaining.
- Good faith bargaining compliance Meeting attendance, information disclosure, notice requirements and the procedural obligations that attach to bargaining. Breaches here hand the other side leverage at no cost to them.
- Ballot and approval Access period requirements, the notice of employee representational rights, the ballot process, and lodgement and approval with the Fair Work Commission, including responding to Commission queries.
- Implementation Once approved, translating the agreement into payroll configuration, supervisor briefings and practical guidance so the document is applied correctly on the ground.
How we work
- 01 Early review Ideally 9 to 12 months before nominal expiry. Agreement analysis, cost baseline, issues register.
- 02 Strategy Leadership alignment on priorities, positions and limits.
- 03 Preparation Bargaining team, communication plan, documentation, logistics.
- 04 Negotiation The bargaining round itself, with regular reporting back to your leadership.
- 05 Ballot and approval Access period, vote, lodgement, Commission approval.
- 06 Implementation Payroll, systems, supervisor training, ongoing interpretation support.
We can pick this up at any stage, including mid-round. Earlier is materially better.
If your agreement expires within the next eighteen months, now is the right time for a conversation. Book a call
Experience behind this service
Kelly has negotiated more than twenty enterprise agreements across mining, manufacturing, construction, energy and aviation, including accountability for enterprise agreements and industrial relations strategy at a global level.
That includes an operational agreement covering 400 site-based employees, negotiated the year after the organisation's previous attempt had failed.
Twenty rounds is enough to know what a claim will cost before it's tabled, what will be conceded late, and where a round is heading well before it gets there.
Why preparation decides the outcome
- Costing changes the conversation. A claim that sounds modest in a meeting often looks very different modelled across four years and a full workforce. Employers who can't cost claims in real time concede things they didn't intend to.
- Clause creep is cumulative. Agreements accrue concessions over successive rounds, each individually small. Reviewed as a whole, the constraints are frequently far greater than anyone realised, and a bargaining round is the only opportunity to address them.
- Silence is a position. If you don't communicate with employees during bargaining, they will still form a view. It will be based entirely on what someone else has told them.
- Alignment prevents unforced errors. Bargaining teams that haven't agreed their limits in advance make concessions at the table under pressure that leadership never authorised, and then have to live with them for four years.
Bargaining in mining, resources and construction
These sectors have particular dynamics: pattern bargaining pressure across comparable operations, industrial action with immediate and severe production consequences, contractor and labour hire arrangements interacting with agreement coverage, and rosters and site allowances that are often the most contested provisions in the document.
Wage outcomes across the sector are also highly visible. Your workforce will know what comparable operations settled at, frequently before you do. A credible position needs to account for that rather than pretend otherwise.
Common questions
When should we start preparing for bargaining?
Nine to twelve months before nominal expiry. That allows time to review the agreement properly, cost your position, align leadership and begin communicating with employees before anyone else sets the narrative. Starting when a bargaining notice arrives is late, though not fatal.
Do we have to agree to bargain?
Not automatically, but there are circumstances where bargaining can be initiated without your agreement, including through a majority support determination. Whether and when to agree is a strategic decision worth taking advice on rather than answering reflexively.
What does the better off overall test mean for us?
Employees covered by the agreement must be better off overall than they would be under the relevant modern award. This is assessed by the Fair Work Commission at approval, and it's where agreements most commonly hit trouble. Testing your proposed terms against the award before you settle them avoids an unpleasant surprise at the approval stage.
Can you negotiate on our behalf, or do we have to be at the table?
Either. Some clients want us leading negotiations; others want their own leaders at the table with us alongside. Having your people visible has real advantages for the ongoing relationship, and we'd usually discuss that with you.
What if the workforce takes protected industrial action?
It's a legitimate part of the process and it's manageable, provided you've prepared. That means understanding the notice requirements, your response options including payment rules, contingency planning for operations, and a clear communication approach.
How much does bargaining support cost?
It varies with the size of the workforce, the number of agreements and the expected complexity of the round. We scope and quote it in phases so you can engage us for the pre-bargaining review first and decide on the rest afterwards.
Start earlier than you think you need to
If your agreement expires within the next eighteen months, now is the right time for a conversation.
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