Stewart Barbara: Employment Relations (Protection of Young Workers) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Stewart Barbara: Employment Relations (Protection of Young Workers) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 05 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7200. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) 
: 
 On behalf of New Zealand First I am pleased to take a call on the Employment Relations (Protection of Young Workers) Amendment Bill. New Zealand First supports this bill. We have to congratulate the member Rino Tirikatene on getting his bill drawn from the ballot. It does not happen very often. In New Zealand First we believe that the industrial relations environment must be based on fairness. We work towards that because it is important that every worker gets treated equally. This is very very important when we consider younger workers. Children aged 16 and under are the most vulnerable group of workers. They deserve safe and secure working conditions. Many of us can identify with that particular group. Some of us were employed when we were under 16. For some of us that is a bit longer ago than for others. Some of us have children who are or who have been in that particular group. 
The Caritas report from 2007 investigated children’s delivery work and of course it centres mainly around newspaper and pamphlet delivery which is most of the work that our young people carry out throughout their schooling. A whole host of issues actually arose from this work. The first one that arose was the very inconsistent and very low pay that many of the children received. Second there are the health and safety concerns. In New Zealand we have got the Health and Safety in Employment Act and employers have an obligation to carry out their duties under this Act. But when people are employed as contractors particularly young children who are not aware of some of the health and safety aspects of their role it becomes a real concern. These children have got no idea and of course the companies do not have to really worry about them. 
Third there is the absence of any sick leave or annual leave when you are actually employed as a contractor. Some of these children rely on that money as pocket money. That can easily be done. Finally the biggest concern is the total lack of supervision. If young workers—children—had the employment status of employees their employers would have to declare their earnings as a part of their ongoing obligations. This would give a much clearer picture of the size of children’s participation in the workforce. At present we do not have that. It would also clarify ACC obligations and entitlements. 
I went on to the internet to have a look and see what other countries do. Other countries do not have a law allowing children in work the same rights as those above 16 so the National Party can be quite happy with what it is saying. They do not even say anything about the level of hazardous work. That is something that New Zealand does have but not to the extent that some of the other countries do. We currently restrict in New Zealand those children under 15 from working in hazardous work and a young person younger than 16 cannot work during school hours or actually perform work that will interfere with their schooling. That is a priority. 
The United States has the Fair Labor Standards Act which sets wages hours worked and safety requirements for minors working in jobs covered under that particular statute. The rules vary according to the age of the minor and the particular job involved. As a general rule 14 years of age is the minimum age for employment and they limit the hours worked by minors under the age of 16. Many other countries also stipulate work hours for minors such as Ireland. Children aged 15 may do 8 hours a week of light work in school term time; the maximum working time for children outside of school term time is 35 hours a week. 
Children are a very vulnerable group. This bill would be a step forward. We do need to know how many young children are actually working in the workforce and we would look further to working on this bill.