Gosche Mark: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Gosche Mark: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:626;Page:21209] 
10.  
Hon MARK GOSCHE (Labour—Maungakiekie) 
 to the  
Minister of Labour 
: What changes have been made to New Zealand’s employment law framework and what has been the impact? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Labour) 
: 
 The Government has taken a number of steps to bring about a fair and balanced employment law framework. The Employment Relations Act has helped to build productive employment relationships through the promotion of collective bargaining and by protecting the integrity of individual choice. The Government has also introduced a new Holidays Act and paid parental leave and has improved health and safety legislation. The impact has been positive for many wage and salary earners in New Zealand. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: Has the Minister seen any proposals for further changes to employment law in New Zealand? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes. I have seen a proposal to scrap the Employment Relations Act followed by a statement that the business community is broadly happy with that Act followed by another statement that it will be repealed in its entirety. Those statements come from the National Party which seems to make a habit of flip-flops and U-turns in its policy development process. 
Judith Collins 
: Does the Minister appreciate that this Government’s 2004 law changes have led to an unprecedented wave of strikes and stoppages this year by allowing unions to hold employers to ransom and bully them into multi-employer collective contracts? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: No. 
Peter Brown 
: Is it of any concern to the Minister that many restaurants cafes and retail outlets are closing on statutory holidays because they would have to pay their workers additional pay; if he is concerned what will he do about it? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: When that policy was introduced there was recognition that it would have an impact on restaurants. That was made quite clear. It was up to the restaurants to decide how they were to deal with it. In fact much of the anecdotal evidence that comes out shows that New Zealanders are quite happy to pay a little bit more on public holidays so that workers who work on those days when most New Zealanders have a holiday get a little bit more for working on those days. 
Paul Adams 
: Does the Minister intend to review grievance and dismissal processes in light of firstly employers’ dissatisfaction with those particular aspects of employment law secondly his colleague John Tamihere’s past promotion of a 1-month probation period for new employees and thirdly the practice of sacked workers claiming unjustified dismissal so that they do not face an extended stand-down period for the dole; if not why not? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes. As I have already indicated particularly at the time of the passing of the Employment Relations Act the issue of the procedures around dismissal is something that needs further attention and further work. In my view it relates a lot to issues around education and we are beginning some work on that as we speak. 
Peter Brown 
: Noting the Minister’s earlier answer to me does he not appreciate that we are in a lose-lose situation for everybody—tourists employers and employees—and does he accept that there is a relatively simple way round it and would he like the advice of New Zealand First on how to solve the problem? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: In response to the last part of the question no but in response to the first part I repeat that there were some issues related to the restaurant trade but the fact of the matter is that during the 1990s virtually every penal payment was ripped away under the Employment Contracts Act. A very small amount has now been given back to the people who actually work on public holidays; the vast majority of people think that is fair.