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Greenfields agreement
Practical Law ANZ Glossary w-004-6121 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Greenfields agreement
A type of enterprise agreement made under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) with the following two necessary pre-conditions:
- The employer (or employers) is (or are) establishing or proposing to establish, a genuine new enterprise (sections 172(2)(b)(i) and 172(3)(b)(i), FW Act). The expression "genuine new enterprise" includes a genuine new business, activity, project or undertaking (legislative note under section 172(2), FW Act and legislative note 1 under section 172(3), FW Act; see also the definition of "enterprise" in section 12, FW Act).
- No employee has yet been employed by the employer who are necessary for the normal conduct of the enterprise and who will be covered by the proposed agreement (sections 172(2)(b)(ii) and 172(3)(b)(ii), FW Act).
A greenfields agreement may be either a:
- Single-enterprise agreement, made between:
- an employer (or two or more related employers); and
- at least one "relevant employee organisation".
- Multi-enterprise agreement, made between:
- at least two employers that are not all related; and
- at least one "relevant employee organisation".
A "relevant employee organisation" is one that is entitled to represent the industrial interests of one or more of the employees who will be covered by the agreement, in relation to work to be performed under the agreement (section 12, FW Act).
Note that a supported bargaining agreement is a type of multi-enterprise agreement. Supported bargaining agreements can only be made where a supported bargaining authorisation is in operation immediately before the agreement is made. A supported bargaining authorisation cannot be made in relation to a proposed greenfield agreement (section 242(3), FW Act).