About agreement making

On this page:

• Enterprise agreements
• Who can make an enterprise agreement?
• Why make an enterprise agreement?
• What can an enterprise agreement include?
• Types of enterprise agreements

Enterprise agreements

Enterprise agreements are agreements made at an enterprise level between employers and employees about terms and conditions of employment. Fair Work Australia can assist in the process of making such agreements, can deal with disputes arising under the terms of agreements and assess and approve agreements.

Who can make an enterprise agreement?

An enterprise agreement is made between one or more employers and:

• employees and
• (in the case of greenfields agreements) one or more relevant employee organisations (unions).

Why make an enterprise agreement?

Awards cover a whole industry or occupation and only provide a safety net of minimum pay rates and employment conditions. Enterprise agreements can be tailored to meet the needs of particular enterprises.

What can an enterprise agreement include?

Enterprise agreements can include a broad range of matters such as:

• rates of pay
• employment conditions e.g. hours of work, meal breaks, overtime
• consultative mechanisms
• dispute resolution procedures
• deductions from wages for any purpose authorised by an employee.

They cannot, however, include unlawful content (such as discriminatory or objectionable terms).

Types of enterprise agreements

Approval processes for enterprise agreements vary depending on the type of agreement. There are three types:

Single-enterprise agreements—involving a single employer or one or more employers (such as in a joint venture) co-operating in what is essentially a single enterprise (such employers are known as single interest employers).

Multi-enterprise agreements—involving two or more employers that are not all single interest employers.

Greenfields agreements—involving a genuinely new enterprise that one or more employers are establishing or propose to establish and who have not yet employed persons necessary for the normal conduct of the enterprise. Such agreements may be either a single-enterprise agreement or a multi-enterprise agreement.