Tisch Lindsay: Holidays (Four Weeks Annual Leave) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Tisch Lindsay: Holidays (Four Weeks Annual Leave) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:617;Page:12663] 
LINDSAY TISCH (National—Piako) 
: 
 It is all very well is it not for someone to go out there and promote how great 4 weeks’ holiday will be for employees but what it boils down to is that if we do not have any businesses those people will not have any jobs. This bill actually penalises workers. It states that the Government will give workers 4 weeks’ holiday but when the number of hours associated with that are multiplied out we find that businesses will start to retrench contract out and cut overtime rates. We are a nation of small businesses. In fact there are 297000 small businesses in New Zealand employing fewer than 10 people each. We are a nation of small businesses which employ just under 600000 people. If we do not have viable small-business enterprises and if we do not have investment in that part of society then communities suffer. 
I want to take a look at the economics of this bill giving 4 weeks’ leave from 1 April 2007 because we cannot just look at the 4 weeks in isolation; we have to look at the bigger picture. At the moment if I am employing somebody that person wants to be paid for 2080 hours a year. That is very straightforward. Forty hours a week times 52 weeks in the year is 2080 hours. But we then have to consider and account for what is known in management terms as non-productive time. Currently we have 11 statutory holidays. If we multiply that out by 8 hours it is 88 hours. There are 5 sick leave days which is 40 hours and there are 3 weeks of annual leave—or 15 days—and if we multiply that out it is 120 hours. When we add those together the total is 248 hours. As an employee I want to be paid for 2080 hours but as an employer because of the provisions pertaining as at today I lose 248 hours. I have only 1832 hours of productive time available to my business for me to be able to earn a living and to earn the revenue I need to keep my employees employed. If we divide that 1832 hours by 40 hours a week to get it down to a weekly basis we find that out of 52 weeks a year there are 46 weeks available. That means the non-productive time currently taken up in statutory holidays holidays and sick leave provisions actually amounts to 6 weeks not 3 weeks or 4 weeks. 
Of course the Holidays Act has been passed. If we look at the economics of this bill we see that the situation gets worse. Under the Holidays Act we find that the statutory holidays are still 11 days times 8 hours or 88 hours and that the sick leave provision of 5 days or 40 hours remains but there is a new bereavement leave provision of 3 days plus another day for a close associate—that is 4 days times 8 hours which is another 32 hours. And now the 3 weeks’ annual leave provision will be increased to 4 weeks. That is 20 days of 8 hours or 160 hours which is a total of 320 hours so the 2080 hours that an employee wants to be paid for comes down to 1760. If we divide that by 40 hours per week we see that only 44 weeks of productive time will be available to the employer to generate income. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: We will have a happier workforce. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: We will not have a happy workforce if there are no jobs. It is as simple as that. That is the reality of being in business which this Government does not appreciate. It thinks money grows on trees. It has never put any money into investment. Investment and growth in the economy come about because people are prepared to take a risk. 
From 1 April 2007 there will actually be 8 weeks—if we take the 4 weeks’ annual leave plus the other days—of non-productive time that the employer has to fund. At the end of the day who will pay? The employees will pay. Firms will retrench they will contract work out and that is currently happening. We will see a cut in overtime rates for those people. As for those firms that currently give employees 4 weeks’ leave those employees will probably want 5 weeks. What about the firms that now give extra time for long-term service? What will happen to those? We will see an escalation taking that into account. 
This is anti-business legislation. The Government might think it is protecting the employees but at the end of the day it is not. The Holidays Act is a complete farce. Along with the increases in accident compensation the paid parental leave provisions and the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill which is before a select committee at the moment it will just put the shackles on growth of the economy and that is where small business fits in. There used to be a saying: “Don’t arrive in New Zealand at the weekend—you’ll find it closed.” I can tell members what will happen. A lot of businesses will think twice about being in operation here in New Zealand. They will vote with their feet and take their business off shore to Australia. 
We all aim for growth in the economy and productivity and that comes because people are prepared to take the risk and invest. When we have that employees will share in the process; they will be the beneficiaries of growth in the economy. Employees will benefit once we lift living standards. At the moment this bill does absolutely nothing to help employees. All that it does is state that they will be the first to have to take cuts. We should not have to legislate to protect employees and to give employees an incentive to be there. Employers should say: “You come and work for me. I’ll create an environment where you’ve got opportunities.” That is how good businesses prosper. Employees can be the best investment that employers make in a business. 
National will not support this bill. We have said that right through. We did not support the Holidays Act and certainly we will not support this bill.