Section 41 — Employment Relations Act 2000: When bargaining may be initiated

41 When bargaining may be initiated (1) If there is no applicable collective agreement in force between a union and an employer, the union or the employer may initiate bargaining with the other at any time. (2) Subsection (1) applies subject to section 40(2) . (3) If there is an applicable collective agreement in force,— (a) a union must not initiate bargaining earlier than 60 days before the date on which the collective agreement expires: (b) an employer must not initiate bargaining earlier than 40 days before the date on which the collective agreement expires. (4) However, if there is more than 1 applicable collective agreement in force that binds 1 or more unions or 1 or more employers or both that are intended to be parties to the bargaining, then— (a) a union must not initiate bargaining before the later of the following dates: (i) the date that is 120 days before the date on which the last applicable collective agreement expires: (ii) the date that is 60 days before the date on which the first applicable collective agreement expires: (b) an employer must not initiate bargaining before the later of the following dates: (i) the date that is 100 days before the date on which the last applicable collective agreement expires: (ii) the date that is 40 days before the date on which the first applicable collective agreement expires. (5) For the purposes of this section, an applicable collective agreement is in force between a union and an employer if the agreement binds employees whose work is intended to come within the coverage clause in the collective agreement being bargained for. Subsection (4) was amended, as from 1 December 2004, by section 13 Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2004 (2004 No 86) by substituting the words “ 1 or more unions or 1 or more employers ” for the words “ more than 1 union or more than 1 employer ” . See section 73 of that Act for the transitional provisions.