Ross Jami-Lee: Employment Relations (Continuity of Labour) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is subject to correctionRoss Jami-Lee: Employment Relations (Continuity of Labour) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 13 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:86. Text is subject to correction.]JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany): Those of us who live outside of Wellington take a plane flight up and down the country every week and we sit next to a whole range of people. A few months ago I had the opportunity to sit next to Winston Peters on the plane. You know we have a lot of heckling back and forth and we throw some barbs his way because he is on the Opposition side of the House but I have to say that that plane flight was probably one of the most interesting 45 minutes I have had on a plane because with 33 years’ experience in this House—or 33 years’ experience prior to my entering Parliament—he has a lot of experience and I did learn a lot as a new member. I appreciate the kind words he said. The reality is though that we have 25 Ministers in our caucus but they do not have a monopoly on good ideas. They have a lot of good ideas and I believe that this Government is doing a lot of good things for the country but the caucus does allow backbench MPs to put members’ bills into the ballot. The reason we do that is that we make up half of the Parliament and on members’ days we do not want to be talking just about the things that the Opposition wants to be talking about.When the member asked whether the National Government supported the Employment Relations (Continuity of Labour) Amendment Bill the Minister of Labour said yes. The members behind me all said yes. This has been through the National caucus. The National caucus does support this bill. So although in a perfect world everything would be done by the Government there are backbench MPs like me who want to push things through and I was fortunate enough to have this idea approved by my caucus.I want to touch on just a couple of other points. Winston Peters talked about the low number of people who would be affected by section 97 of the Employment Relations Act. He is absolutely right. About 8 to 9 percent of the private sector workforce is unionised. They are the only people who benefit from the protections of section 97 but everybody who wants to work during a strike is restricted by section 97 from being able to do that. That is why I say that this bill is actually pro-worker because it allows people who wish to work during a strike the ability to do that.I believe in freedom. I believe in flexibility. I believe in people being able to choose their own destiny where they can and that is why I support repealing section 97 and why I support this bill. I do note that when this was last debated in Parliament—in the year 2000 some 13 years ago—the position of New Zealand First was that it opposed section 97. I have been throughHansard and I have been through the press releases. Peter Brown the deputy leader of New Zealand First at the time did a lot of heavy lifting on that bill and New Zealand First’s position was to firmly oppose section 97. So my plea to the New Zealand First Party tonight is give New Zealanders an opportunity through a select committee to submit on this bill. If it is difficult to vote yes or no on it there is a third option potentially but I am not going to tell the right honourable gentleman how he should vote—but that is a third option as well. New Zealand First took a very principled position on this particular issue 13 years ago and I would ask that it consider that position again.The number of strikes and lockouts in New Zealand is also an issue that has been raised and yes at the moment during an economic downturn the number of strikes is relatively low. But in 2000 the number of strikes and lockouts was at 21. Within a few years of the Employment Relations Act 2000 being passed the number of workplace disputes the number of workplace stoppages actually tripled. My fear is that once the economy really starts to pick up again we will see a larger number of workplace stoppages coming about. With workplace stoppages come employees who are notworking. Under section 97 workplace stoppages mean that people who wish to work during that workplace stoppage are restricted by a piece of legislation that stops them from doing that. It is a law that never existed in New Zealand for over 100 years. It is only in the last 12 to 13 years that this law has existed. The first second third and fourth Labour Governments did not see fit to have such a restriction. The fifth Labour Government did. I say that it is time to repeal that section of the Employment Relations Act. Let people work during a strike or lockout if they want to. It will benefit workers in the long run.