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Understand collective bargaining coverage, negotiate changes and prepare a legally informed response to industrial disputes.
What we help you decide
Handle unions and collective agreements. We assess the relevant documents, explain the available routes and agree the scope of advice before taking further steps.
Which collective terms apply?
Coverage can arise from collective bargaining membership, generally binding rules or contractual references. Check the relevant industry, territory, employee group and temporal scope. A clause referring to a collective agreement may have consequences even where neither party is bound through membership.
Negotiations and changes
Pay structures, working time, classification, supplements and employment security often need to be considered as one package. Review how company-level arrangements interact with sectoral agreements and works agreements. Do not assume that an individual contract can simply displace collective protections.
Industrial action
Strike and lockout questions turn on the parties, objectives, applicable peace obligations and proportionality. Urgent proceedings require a carefully evidenced case and a realistic assessment of the available remedy. Contingency planning must also consider communications, access to premises and restrictions on the use of agency workers.
Practical example
A company acquires a business with different collective pay arrangements. We map legal coverage and contractual references before developing a harmonisation approach, so that payroll changes are not based on an incorrect assumption about the effect of the acquisition.
Documents for an initial review
- Collective agreements and membership history
- Contractual reference clauses
- Pay classifications and bargaining demands
- Industrial-action notices and operational plan
Related advice
Works councils and co-determination · Pay, bonuses, equal pay and benefits · All employment law services · Discuss your matter
Legal sources
Reviewed: 8 November 2026. The application of these rules depends on the facts, the relevant documents and any applicable collective arrangements.