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Employment Agreements

Your Employment Agreement is the contract that sets out the relationship between you and your employer. Everyone should have an employment agreement.  By law there are some things that must be in it, but there are many other things that can be included.
 
Make sure you read our Employment Agreement Checklist when you are looking at your Employment Agreement.
 
There are two types of Employment Agreement - a collective employment agreement or an individual employment agreement.
 

             1. Collective Employment Agreement (CEA or CA)

A collective employment agreement is negotiated with an employer by a union and covers all the employees at that workplace who are members of the union.  Only a union can negotiate a collective agreement, but there can be union members in a workplace without a collective agreement.

If you start work at a workplace with a collective agreement, your employer is required to offer you the chance to join the union and be covered by that collective.  Irrespective, for the first 30 days at work you will at least have the same terms and conditions as the collective agreement.  In that time you have the opportunity to join the union there.

2. Individual Employment Agreement (IEA or IA)

In the absence of a collective agreement, this is an agreement between one employee and one employer.  The law says there are just six things that an individual agreement must include:

    • Your name and the employer's name
    • A description of the work you will do
    • Your rate of pay
    •  Where and when you will work - what location and what hours
    • An explanation of services available to help sort out workplace problems
    • What happens if the business is sold or your work is contracted out.

 But these six are not the only things - your employer will include others and you are entitled to propose others as well.

When you are offered a job

  • Your employment agreement must be in writing.
  • You are entitled to a copy of the agreement. If your boss is slow in giving you a copy of your agreement, write him/her a letter with what you believe has been agreed. Here is a form letter to use.
  • You're allowed to get advice about the agreement before you sign it; you do not have to sign it on the spot.
  • You have the right to negotiate with your boss about what's in your agreement. In fact this is usually the best time to negotiate pay and conditions. If you can't negotiate the pay rate or conditions you want right at the start of your new job, then try to negotiate a time, say after three months or a year, when your pay will increase or you get an extra week's leave etc. Make sure anything extra you agree is put in writing.
  • You must be told if the other workers have a collective agreement. If they do, you should be employed on those conditions for 30 days while you decide if you want to join the union and be covered by it.
  • Your employer is required to inform you how to contact the union.