While the informal agreement did work in many cases, we were often stuck as the employer had no obligation to answer the union. It all depended on the good will of the negotiators. Our argument was that the obligation must extend beyond the personalities involved; there must be an obligation to respond and deal with issues in good faith.

Now, since there is a signed agreement, they must respond and failure to so so is a violation of the agreement and therefore an unfair Labour practice under the Trade Union Law.

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