Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper amends the ability to opt out of a Multi-Employer Collective Agreement (MECA). The development of MECAs is important to improving the wages and conditions of workers across an industry particularly in the education and health areas. The Bill as currently drafted introduces an opt-out provision which would seriously undermine the development of MECAs. If this ability is to remain it should at least be substantially limited. This Supplementary Order Paper would limit the occasions on which an employer could opt out of a MECA to the circumstance where they can prove real commercial risk as a result of information being shared with competitors during bargaining.