We shared with you on Friday that the majority of employees voted in favour of us joining other councils in a multi-employer enterprise agreement (EA).
We promised to support the majority preference for this new kind of EA if it received the votes, and it did. We're happy to honour our commitment to bargain in good faith alongside the other councils that participate.
Many of you will want to know what happens next, when negotiations will start and how bargaining for a multi-employer EA will work.
These multi-employer EAs are formally known as a Single Interest Enterprise Agreement (SIEA). They are a new type of EA, and we don’t yet have much information about how the process will work for councils or what will be negotiated. As we learn, we will keep you updated.
What we do know is that the bargaining process cannot commence until 1 July 2025 at the earliest, and then not until the Fair Work Commission gives approval to start. This means there won’t be much news about the EA for the next few months, but we will keep you updated with any significant news and certainly when negotiations are going to begin.
We don’t yet know which other councils will be part of the new EA with us, but we do know the union hopes to also include Darebin, Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong, Merri-bek, and the cities of Melbourne, Port Phillip and Yarra.
If you missed Friday’s announcement about the ballot result, you can read it here. You can also find information about multi-employer EAs and FAQs on The Source Our EA 2025 page.