8. Negotiated information and consultation agreements

The regulations are written on the basis that an employee request or employer notification will lead to negotiations and conclude with a negotiated agreement (in which case the standard information and consultation provisions do not apply). Once an agreement has been adopted (see page 34) it can be put into practice.

The ICE regulations are at their most flexible when it comes to negotiated agreements, with very little ruled in or out, provided that the agreement has been negotiated under the regulations.

For the purposes of the ICE regulations a “negotiated agreement” means one of two things:

• an agreement negotiated between the employer and the negotiating reps “reached through negotiations as provided for” under the regulations, specifically:

◊ as referred to in the ICE negotiating process (regulation 14, see Chapter 6) and

◊ satisfying the description of a negotiated agreement and what is required (regulation 16)

or

• where the standard provisions apply (see Chapter 7), the employer and the information and consultation reps “may, at any time, reach an agreement” that provisions other than the standard information and consultation provisions apply.

It is also important to note that the definition of a pre-existing agreement (see Chapter 5) “does not include … a negotiated agreement” (regulation 2). This is an important distinction, because a pre-existing agreement is one made prior to an employee ICE request, and it is unenforceable by the CAC (see Chapter 5).