Court finds athletes' union, high-performance sport authority not in employment relationship
BY Helena Scholes, Sarah Wadworth, Fiona McMillan, Andrew Shaw, and Andy Bell 26 Apr 2025
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The boundaries of collective bargaining in the high-performance sport scene have been turned on their head by a recent Employment Court decision that overturns an earlier determination.
In the latest chapter of legal actions in this sphere, late last year the court found that High Performance Sport New Zealand Ltd (HPSNZ) was not required to collectively bargain with The Athlete’s Collective (TAC) – a union representing athletes.
This overturned an earlier Employment Relations Authority determination.
In early 2024, the Authority accepted the notice had been validly given because HPSNZ was an employer and TAC was a union within the context of the Employment Relations Act 2000.
This meant that collective bargaining could be initiated and was not limited by the fact that the union had no current employees. This was despite TAC being comprised of athletes, and HPSNZ being some steps up the ladder in New Zealand’s funding model with a “national sporting organisation” (NSO) in between the parties.
In allowing the collective bargaining, the Authority referenced how the Act’s objectives include:
Promoting good faith in all aspects of the employment relationship and environment, to build productive employment relationships.
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