Key John: Employment Relations Law Reform Bill — First Reading 
Key John: Employment Relations Law Reform Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:614;Page:10680] 
JOHN KEY (National—Helensville) 
: 
 There is very little indeed that is more blatant than this bill. This bill is designed for one reason alone and absolutely nobody in this country should be under any illusion what that reason is. This bill is all about building union membership. That is what it is about. 
The Government has put out Margaret Wilson as the Trojan Horse to build union membership for one reason alone: union membership stands at only 12 percent in this country and the unions are not happy. The Government caucus is full of union representatives and they have looked at the numbers. They had their first shot when they restructured the Employment Contracts Act but they have said that that was not good enough that they should bump up the numbers and build up the union movement in this country and that one way to do that is to get Margaret Wilson to restructure the Employment Relations Act. That is what the Government is doing today— 
Simon Power 
: For the 12th time. 
JOHN KEY 
: It is a disgrace. The Government is doing this to build up the unions so that they can get more fees to prop up what is nothing more than an ailing Government that is about to get booted out in 18 months’ time. Government members might laugh but we will see who has the last laugh when employers get a load of this claptrap. 
When Margaret Wilson tabled this bill in the House she said she was just as concerned for the 80-odd percent who are not covered by a collective agreement. She was concerned all right—she was concerned about how she could get them on a collective agreement! That is her agenda. That is where we are going with this legislation. It is absolutely no different from what we saw last night when Trevor Mallard introduced the State Sector Amendment Bill and with all the arrogance of this Government delivered the same bully-boy tactics that the Government is using to try to push through this legislation. I simply have this to say to Margaret Wilson: if this was the moon—and frankly sometimes I wonder what planet Margaret Wilson comes from—and Margaret Wilson was the first woman to walk on the moon as Neil Armstrong was the first man to do that 34 years ago as she was planting the New Zealand flag on the moon she would simply say: “One small step for the employee; one giant leap for the unions.” That is what this bill is about. 
Inch by inch this Government will drag us back to the 1970s and the 1980s. They were not happy times in industrial relations in this country. I may be young enough still to have my youthful looks but I remember the days of strikes at Kawerau and Kinleith. I remember the days when productivity was driven down to the point where New Zealand had a growth rate of half a percent because the unions held this country to ransom. No one should forget about that. I remember the days when the inter-island ferries did not operate because people were on strike due to there being no chocolate biscuits. That is what the unions did for those people and GDP grew at half a percent. 
Simon Power 
: Cold meat pies. 
JOHN KEY 
: And no chocky biscuits. The ferries were on strike and no one went anywhere. The strikes always happened around Christmas and Easter. There was no respite for those New Zealanders who wanted to go on holiday because the ferries went on strike. Inch by inch that is where we are heading with a bill that is designed to give the unions more power and be very very harsh indeed on employers. 
I simply ask what that will do for job creation in this country. What will that do for small businesses when they want to take on new staff? What will that do for the most vulnerable workers whom Labour Party members argue so wilfully they are there to represent? Absolutely nothing! This is robbing the food off their table—make no mistake about that. The very people who will be affected by this bill will give absolutely no thanks at all to this hapless Labour Government. 
Yesterday the OECD produced its 159-page report on New Zealand. It released its report and had these words to say about the labour market. I hope the Minister of Labour is paying attention. 
Rodney Hide 
: The OECD is a right-wing plot according to them. 
JOHN KEY 
: A right-wing plot it may be but it said that labour market flexibility should be preserved. That was the report’s opening line. The next line was: “In recent years there has been a clear trend towards greater rigidities higher labour costs and there are further such changes in the pipeline.” If members want to deliver—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Let me take the member up on that. Yes unemployment is low. The OECD said that unemployment is low and growth is high solely because of the policies of the 1980s and the 1990s and absolutely nothing that this Government has done has encouraged that—not one thing. It has increased taxes increased compliance costs and increased rigidity in the labour market. The OECD said that growth in New Zealand per capita is going down. Make no mistake about it: we are talking about a basket-case economy if we leave this hapless Labour Government in office for too long. So Labour members should not be too smug about it. A low exchange rate competitive prices and a whole lot of migration do not make them magicians. Even if they believe their own press releases it does not work that way because the OECD is a bit smarter than their press releases and it has worked out what is going on in New Zealand and it is bad bad news. 
I want to look at some of the particular parts of this bill because they are very disturbing indeed and employers will be very concerned about their provisions—in particular the issue related to collective bargaining. One of the provisions requires an employer to attend at least one meeting when a multi-employer contract agreement is to be reached. It sounds innocuous enough but when it is tied to the good-faith provision I think it is very important that people understand exactly what “good faith” means in this legislation. “Good faith” in the bill means that parties bargaining for collective arrangements must attend 
at least one meeting unless there is a genuine reason not to do so. Parties to good-faith arrangements are to be “responsive communicative and supportive”. 
It is as my colleague Mr Simon Power said nothing short of a bonanza for lawyers. This is not the kind of legislation that will make employment relations go forward. It is a bonanza for lawyers and those wealthy and highly paid lawyers in Queen Street are licking their chops as this Labour Government delivers them a complete mishmash of legislation that will drive New Zealand back to the 1970s. One of those lawyers the very esteemed Rob Towner a partner at Bell Gully and a specialist in employment law at least had the guts to say this: “There is nothing to suggest that the employer has discharged its obligations by simply going to the first meeting. They will be held around the table to negotiate a whole lot of collective arrangements even if it makes no sense for them to be there for fear of being fined.” Individuals and companies will be whacked with a $5000 to $10000 fine if they are seen to be in breach of their good-faith arrangements. So this bill will do nothing for growth in New Zealand. 
Before my time expires I want to touch finally on the issue of business restructuring. It is important to understand the provisions for business restructuring because they are very important indeed. They will do one thing and one thing alone for businesses in New Zealand and that is not grow them. So while Labour members are out there telling the people of New Zealand that they have their innovation and growth strategy I suggest they get it out of the bottom drawer along with their credit card dust them off and have a look at what they were telling the people of New Zealand while they were trying to bluff their way into office. It was not listed on that credit card that they would make goodwill evaporate in businesses up and down the country but that is what this employment relations bill is going to do. Government members as I stand here today are very quiet because they know as I know that this is a terrible step back for New Zealand. 
Earlier someone mentioned the position of union membership in the United States of America. Let me just tell members that every man woman and child in America has a standard of living almost double that of people in New Zealand and if this Government or any Government wants to deliver a Christmas present to the people of New Zealand then it should give them more money and more opportunity but it should not give them this rubbish that has been designed in a bathroom somewhere in this fair building.