Compulsory conciliation conferences during ballot period

If we make a protected action ballot order, we will also make an order for a compulsory conciliation conference.

All bargaining representatives for the proposed agreement will be required to attend the conference.

The conciliation conference will take place during the ballot period.

The aim of the conference is to facilitate the parties reaching an agreement on some or all of the unresolved issues before any protected industrial action is taken. 

All bargaining representatives for the proposed agreement must attend the conference.

This includes any employer and employee bargaining representatives that will be covered by the proposed agreement (such as other employers and employee bargaining representatives in a multi-employer agreement) that were not named in the application for a protected action ballot order.

If an employee bargaining representative doesn’t attend the conference – the employee(s) that they represent will not be able to take protected industrial action.

If any employer bargaining representatives doesn’t attend the conference – the employer cannot take employer response action.

The conference is intended to be a meaningful process. They will be held in private and facilitated by a Commission Member.

At the conference, the Commission Member can do a range of things including:

• mediating or conciliating
• making a recommendation
• expressing an opinion.

We expect parties to use the conference to make genuine attempts to resolve the dispute.

We expect bargaining representatives to apply an appropriate level of resources and commitment to the conference.