Young Jonathan: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Young Jonathan: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 21 July 2010. Volume:665;Page:12541. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
: 
 We are determined to see the number of jobs increase. After the announcement by the Prime Minister John Key on the extension of the 90-day employment trial period to all employers the  
New Zealand Herald  
reported that the New Zealand Amalgamated Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union the National Distribution Union and others are meeting for a war council tomorrow and Friday. The only thing is that that war machine rolling into a nearby town is likely to maim and injure the hard-working New Zealanders whom it thinks it is coming to rescue. 
One employer from New Plymouth said this morning about the 90-day trial period for new employees that he spoke about it last week to all his staff from 18-year-olds to those who have worked there for 20 years and that 95 percent of them agreed that it was fair and were in favour of it. He said that in tight economic times it is a particularly crucial option. The union bosses’ guns are blazing for just 5 percent of the workforce who agreed with them in that place and they need to realise that the rest of the workforce is happy because they think it is fair. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: What did you expect them to say Jonathan? 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: What about the 5 percent who did not think this measure was fair? They had the courage to speak their convictions and obviously the employer embraced that and enabled it to happen. That is a very good work environment that is very very open. Another employer said this: “A very good move. It puts the employer and employee on an equal footing with equal rights.” Whether or not members opposite agree with that the perception out there is that it has been unequal. 
Another employer from New Plymouth said that it was a very positive move and another tool in the tool box for employers who have been on the back foot in this area for ages. The employer also said: “A good employer looks to invest in his employees and does so in good faith but gets caught when the employee does not deliver on expectations.” 
We need to understand that business success is the key to creating more jobs. A fundamental truth that some people do not understand is that with Government employment not growing and not likely to do so more jobs for more New Zealanders will come from private sector business. The 90-day trial period is designed to make it easier for businesses to employ those New Zealanders. That is a good and essential thing. 
Another employer from New Plymouth says: “I am very encouraged by it.”—members should listen to what he says—“It will give us confidence to recruit more staff.” Another says that he agrees wholeheartedly— 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: Tell us what the workers say. 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: I told that member in the very first instance that 95 percent of that large firm agreed with the trial period and said that it was fair. 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: How many? 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: It was 95 percent. The member does not want to hear it but 95 percent of the employees of that firm said that. Another business owner said: “No employer hires to fire. 
But it gives smaller employers the added confidence that if they get it wrong then they are not penalised and it gives them equal rights with the employee.” Nearly every one of those employers said this morning that they felt this was a fairer deal than they have had to work with in the past. They talked about equal rights and about no longer being on the back foot—equal footing with equal rights—and as I said in the first instance one employer said that 95 percent of employees in that firm agreed that it was fair. That is what we want to hear. 
National’s employment law package is not about ideological change; it is about moderate change aimed at rebalancing the system so that it is fair for both employees and employers. I believe in fairness. I believe in justice. I believe in having reasoned dialogue between reasonable people and I believe that it can build a strong common understanding and goals. We do not want to create or support an us-versus-them environment. I am not anti-union but unlike the previous Government we do not want employees to feel pressured to join a union. We are encouraging communication—reasonable people talking about reasoned ideas—between employees and employers while ensuring that employees can join or participate in unions if they wish to. Sometimes things do not work out. Expectations set and expectations met is what successful work relations is all about.