What will Labour’s industrial relations policy mean for businesses
I’m amazed there has been almost zero media coverage of Labour’s radical industrial relations policy. It turns the clock back to the 1970s with de facto national awards and the like. A guest poster covered it here.
In summary Labour will do the following:
- Entire industries will be selected to have a national award imposed on them. The industry will have no ability to say no to it, and neither will any individual employer.
- “Minimum” standards will be set governing everything from pay rates to overtime to holidays to standard hours of work.
- A small employer in Invercargill will be forced to pay the same wages and conditions as a large multinational employer based in Auckland.
- Unions will be able to now initiate strikes in advance of an employer’s offer
- Employers will now have an obligation to conclude a collective agreement. That means that so long as the union holds firm, the employer will be forced to agree to their terms eventually.
- Unions will gain the right to enter any workplace in New Zealand to sign up members
- New employment agreements will have automatic union membership as part of them
- Non union members will be forced to pay fees to a union, if the union considers they get benefits from them
- Contractors will be made into employees
- Casual employment contracts will be made very difficult
- Youth rates will be abolished so it will be illegal to pay a 16 year old less than $33,000 a year!
- Even employers with just one staff member will be forced to have an elected health and safety rep
- Any employer that the unions don’t like will be banned from any Government contract work
- Require all Government contractors to pay 16 year olds over $40,000 a year
You can see why the unions are pouring so much money into Labour. And if they get a Labour Government you can be sure they will have even more money to spend on helping Labour stay in power.