Mondayisation bill passes second reading also
March 14th, 2013 at 1:00 pm by David FarrarThe marriage bill has hogged the headlines but worth noting that David Clark’s Mondayisation bill passed its second reading despite being opposed by the Government.
Labour, Greens, NZ First, Maori, Mana, United and Brendan Horan were 61 votes in favour and National and ACT 60 votes against.
I’m pleased to see it progress. it is illogical that we Mondayise some holidays but not all of them.
I don’t accept the argument that by placing the public holiday on a Monday, it shifts the focus from the actual day.
Put it like this. If Christmas Day is on a Saturday, the public holiday is on Monday the 27th. Does anyone celebrate Christmas on the 27th or regard that as Christmas Day? Of course not.
There is a legitimate debate you can have about whether 11 paid public holidays a year is too many or too few. But if we have a public holiday, it should occur every year in opinion – not just five out of seven years.
It is also a good thing to occasionally have Parliament able to legislate over the will of Government. This is the benefits of no party having a majority (there are drawbacks also). You don’t want the Government losing votes too often, but it is good for a Government that they have to defeat bills in the House on the basis of the strength of their argument, not on the basis of a vote in caucus.
In the end the arguments against David Clark’s bill are not persuasive and it should also pass into law in April.
In the next decade, the years when it will have an impact are:
- 2013 – none
- 2014 – none
- 2015 – ANZAC Day on a Saturday
- 2016 – Waitangi Day on a Saturday
- 2017 – none
- 2018 – none
- 2019 – none
- 2020 -ANZAC Day on a Saturday
- 2021 - Waitangi Day on a Saturday, ANZAC Day on a Sunday
- 2022 - Waitangi Day on a Sunday
Related posts:
- The Mondayisation bill
- Will the Mondayisation bill pass?
- Monday bill set for third reading
- Mondayised Holdiays
March 14th, 2013 at 1:08 pm
Oh well, its only other peoples money so go ahead.
In saying that, a fight against this bill is something I would expect to lose and probably not the best expenditure of political capital. But at least call it what it is, an increase in costs on employers in order to assuage the sense of logic held by DPF and others.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 1:21 pm
Absent productivity gains, the cost of this is ultimately born through lower wages and reduced employment.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 1:42 pm
Regardless of the balance of argument (and I am with OÇonnor on this), I know whose behaviour I find shameful.
I also note:
I find this schoolboy-type behavior childish and disgusting. And these people think we should put them on the Treasury benches and let them run the country??!!
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 1:46 pm
It’s very comforting to see that this piss-poor Labour lite government getting its priorities right.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 1:47 pm
Life isn’t about big business or business per se
Life is about God, people and culture and family.
We are being ripped off by any other principle
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 1:54 pm
Last year ANZAC day fell on Easter Monday.
The whole dishonor the veterans thing doesn’t stack up for me; I’ve been in Australia where the day is Mondayised (hate the phrase) and it’s celebrated perfectly well.
Waitangi day is crap and I’d cancel it and replace it with something better as a national day, but it should be celebrated. In the USA if the 4th July is a Saturday the Friday is a holiday, if it’s a Sunday it transfers to the Monday.
I see no evidence that this has a meaningful impact on business productivity in meta terms
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 2:04 pm
I thinks it is important to consider:
Employers should be budgeting for those holidays as part of pruden planning, I don’t think that most employers bank their companies futures on the fact that every few years there are 3 fewer public holidays that they have to pay for?
I pretty sure that the last thing on a WWII soliders mind when they were being shot at was ANZAC day being Mondayized.
The Government has not introduced this bill, they have had it foisted upon them and it is being supported by numbers that outnumber them, this is called democracy Manolo – you should read about it one day. They continue to say they don’t support it, by not using their Veto right they are letting Democracy take its course….I say good on them.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 2:09 pm
I wonder if, in the same vein, they will compulsorily Mondayize Anzac and Waitangi days. It is more disruptive to many industries to have a days holiday in the middle of a week than on either a Monday or Friday. Then of course we could treat Christmas and New Year the same, make both 4 days weekends instead of the hash that a holiday on Tuesday & Wednesday makes of a work week.
I call for holiday equality, that old equality slogan has worked pretty well lately so why not.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 2:15 pm
How about I sit down with my employer and negotiate when and which days I work and what my compensation will be.
It would be marvelous to disregard, yours, John Keys, or David Shearers opinion on when I may work.
wtf?
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 2:17 pm
The National Party were a bit tardy in not supporting this Bill. Its effects will be minimal. But I do wonder why the Labour Party never addressed this issue in the long years they were in Government.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 2:25 pm
number of workers in NZ = 2,000,000
average wage =$40,000
average workday compensation=$160
cost per additional public holiday = around $320 million
Now for a business to be functional their loss of productivity should be higher than the wages paid so 300 million is a minimum.
I know it makes a lot of you feel better, but please leave us to be free and you use your own time and money to make the world as you see it.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 2:32 pm
Sonny Blount
Vote:An excellent idea.
Why should non-Christians be bound to feast days set by Christian church fathers centuries ago?
Why can’t I shop, eat out etc because someone else thinks I shouldn’t be allowed to because of their religious beliefs?
Why do Jewish and Muslim kids have to miss so much school for their own holy days because they are forced to have holidays on Christian festivals?
Why are we forced to have the bulk of our summer holiday before the best of the summer weather because of a shonky date and mythological event dreamed up by one religious group?
Surely a modern society should be able to sort itself out better than this!
March 14th, 2013 at 2:45 pm
I agree BeaB
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 2:45 pm
Who has Brendan Horan’s proxy vote now?
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 3:48 pm
Sonny Blount
Or to put it another way every few years the employers make (ie don’t have to pay out) $320M extra. Most years they pay out $320M and every few years they get a windfall.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 4:24 pm
BeaB strange that these Christian feast days you mention have been celebrated for millinnea albeit under different names such as winter solstice & the spring equinox come to think of it I’m feeling a bit robbed by your Christian Overlords and demand equal rites for the summer solstice & autumn equinox and not just this faux Halloween we currently have to endure.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 4:47 pm
KiwiGreg @ 1.21pm
Oh come on! Six extra days in 10 years, and it’s all going to create reduced wages and reduced employment. Really? Wow.
You sound like the posters who think that gays getting married will lead to the end of civilisation.
I would dispute your absent productivity gains claim too. I know that after a long weeked, I return to work refreshed and get an awful lot done.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 5:34 pm
bc,
Nothing stopping an employer giving you more days off if it works for you and they get improved results out of it.
You just don’t need to apply your situation to everyone else.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 5:42 pm
Or to put it another way.
A change that will cost employers $2 billion dollars over the next decade.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 7:20 pm
I wasn’t speaking for anyone else Sonny. I thought the three “I” statements I made would have made that obvious.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 7:44 pm
Rubbish.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 8:29 pm
This bill is all well and good for people who work normal business hours. However it is little comfort for shift workers. For many shift workers public holidays fall on a regular rostered day off. Their Statutory holidays are not “Mondayised” to their next rostered on shift. So while people who work business hours (Usually office professionals) get to relax on their additional days off, shift workers again get shafted. So next time you require an essential service on a public holiday, like an ambulance, and get confronted by a pissed off worker, direct your complaints to David Clark.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 9:36 pm
Griff,
If your a shift worker why don’t you talk to your boss and figure something out?
If x% of the population require a fix, applying that fix to 100% of the population is an incredibly inefficient way to go about it.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 9:45 pm
Because they knew – and still do – that it comes with real costs to the economy. Of course they don’t have to worry about that when they are in Opposition.
(It may well not be the death of industry to make the change, but the reason why Labour are promoting it now is purely political and not a whit to do with fairness to the workers.)
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 10:09 pm
Sonny, The easiest way for me is to actually work the public holiday and take a day in lieu at a time that is more convenient for myself. My work schedule is already a mess so I am already used to adjusting family time around my schedule. Being given an extra day is not so much of a big deal for me. I never used to worry about being rostered off on a public holiday. As a shift worker you have to take things as they come. However now that David Clark is putting his bill through parliament I realise that it does not change anything for me. It is designed by normal business hours workers for people who work business hours. In reality I will see little benefit so I am just highlighting the fact that there are inequalities with this bill that are being overlooked.
Vote:March 14th, 2013 at 10:16 pm
Why has National not at least partially reversed Labour’s compulsory time and a half for public holidays that caused many restaurants to introduce a 20% surcharge on public holidays??? Surely only a 20% premium at most should be compulsory for working public holidays???
Vote:March 15th, 2013 at 7:48 am
There’s no reason at all we should have exactly the same number of public holidays every year. The fact that the effect is small is not an argument for or against.
Of course people want government to legislate them extra holidays. But the purpose of public holidays on Anzac day and Waitangi day is to enable people to celebrate the day if they wish to do so. Mondayisation does not further that purpose in any way. There’s no more a case for Mondayisation of these days than there is for just adding a random holiday somewhere in the calendar.
National should just play hardball by sitting down with Peter Dunne and explaining that law changes to reduce GDP are not compatible with his role as Revenue Minister so he needs to choose one or the other.
Vote: