About greenfields agreements

Employers make greenfields enterprise agreements when:

• they are starting or plan to set up a 'genuine new business', activity, project or undertaking AND
• they have not yet hired the people who will work under the agreement.

A greenfields business is new or becoming active in a market with little or no previous activity.

The steps are different from other agreements. This is because the employer may not have employees who are covered by the proposed agreement, so:

• The employer must negotiate with one or more unions.
• There is no vote before the employer applies for approval.

Before you apply, you may begin to set up the new business. The work you do at this stage must only be preparation. If you do more than this, we may not be satisfied that you are creating a genuine new business.

Find out how to:

• Make a greenfields agreement.
• Apply for approval of a greenfields agreement.

The requirements for a greenfield agreement are in Section 172(4) and Section 178Bof the Fair Work Act 2009.