Bargaining and Legal Strategy
Bargaining and Legal Strategy (BLS) is a specialist unit within the Industrial Relations Branch of the NSW Premier’s Department.
Who we are
We support NSW government agencies and unions in undertaking IR negotiation. This includes supporting collaborative approaches to bargaining and identifying potential productivity offsets.
Our purpose
We support NSW Government agencies in undertaking bargaining with their unions. We aim to foster a collaborative approach to bargaining. This highlights common interests and resolves conflicting ones to facilitate agreement between agencies and unions. The support we provide includes:
- monitoring the bargaining process to identify relevant IR risks and opportunities
- maintaining strategic oversight of all IR and legal strategies to ensure we are best placed to support agencies and unions in bargaining, including by helping agencies and unions identify viable productivity offsets
- ensuring bargaining proposals and industrial reforms align with government priorities.
What we do
- Provide support to agencies in the drafting of Senior Officials Wages Advisory Committee (SOWAC) and Expenditure Review Committee of Cabinet (ERC) proposals ensuring all proposals are comprehensive and address all relevant IR risks.
- Help to upskill government agencies and unions to foster a cooperative approach to bargaining.
Contact us
NSW public sector employees or managers
Please contact the human resources or industrial relations section in your agency.
Agency HR/IR personnel
We welcomes enquiries from NSW public sector human resources and industrial relations specialists about Industrial Relations Bargaining, including any questions about the Fair Pay and Bargaining Policy 2023. Agencies should enquire via the email link below.