Lees-Galloway IainEMPLOYMENT RELATIONS AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety): I move That the Employment Relations Amendment Bill be now read a third time. This Government is laying the foundations for a modern economy. Part of our plan for this is to ensure that we grow and share prosperity fairly. As the Deputy Prime Minister said we need to restore a human face to capitalism. One of the most important ways for us to do this is to ensure that hard work is rewarded. For the significant majority of New Zealand households wages from work make up most of their income. Too many people saw their real wages slip during the deregulation fever of the 1980s and 1990s and inequality grew faster in New Zealand than anywhere in the developed world. The Clark Labour Government repaired much of this damage. One of the things they did was to recognise the importance of collective bargaining to increasing people's wages. People on collective agreements are more than twice as likely to receive a pay increase in any year than those on individual agreements. Along with this unions help give working people a voice in their workplaces. Progressive smart and people-focused employers are realising the ability of unions to bring the workforce alongside the aspirations of business generating better engagement better safety and better profits. This is why many of the most influential global bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the OECD are encouraging the growth of collective bargaining. The other side of the House has made their narrow and pinched ambition for workplaces clear. They would return New Zealand workplaces to the 1990s or even the 1890s if they could. The coalition Government knows that we can do much better for New Zealanders and with the Employment Relations Amendment Bill we are. Changes made to the employment relations framework by the previous Government saw an erosion of working people's rights and a weakening of their voice through attacks on unions. This Government believes that people should have a say in the running of their workplace and have the ability to get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. We want to lift New Zealand into a high-wage high-skill economy with thriving regions. To that end this bill strengthens the role of collective bargaining worker voice and union rights in the workplace to deliver better wages and conditions of employment and this bill lifts minimum standards for employees and delivers much-needed protections for workers especially vulnerable workers. This Government believes that bargaining in good faith means making a real effort to come to an agreement. This bill strengthens the collective bargaining framework to deliver more efficient bargaining and better outcomes. The bill also improves how multi-employer collective agreements (MECAs) are bargained by removing the ability to opt out of this process and requiring employers to come to the bargaining table. However if after bargaining an employer has reasonable grounds for deciding a MECA is not right for their circumstances the bill expressly provides for this and does not require parties to conclude a MECA. Pay is a key term of employment and the ability to exclude pay from collective bargaining runs against this very purpose. This bill requires that collective agreements must include rates of wages and salary. Changes made by National allowed employers to deduct wages for partial strikes. In some instances this has resulted in employees losing pay for low-level action such as wearing a T-shirt instead of their uniform. This bill removes that unfair system. The bill provides new employees the protection of the terms and conditions of the collective for the first 30 days of employment by restoring the so-called 30-day rule. It also gives employees the opportunity to be provided with information about the role and function of the union so that they can make an informed choice about whether they want to join a union. Union delegates play an important role in the workplace including helping to resolve workplace problems before they escalate helping members in workplaces make decisions and supporting members who ask for help. This bill provides union delegates paid time off during work hours to perform their representative role unless the time off unreasonably interrupts the employee's performance of their duties or the employer's business. The bill ensures that where there are employees that are covered under or that are bargaining towards a collective agreement union representatives are able to enter workplaces without consent. This can be critical if the situation is urgent. In all other situations the current consent requirements will apply. Representatives will still be required to abide by reasonable security health and safety procedures and policies. They must also access the workplace at a reasonable time and in a reasonable way having regard to the normal business operations of the workplace. The bill restores an employee's entitlement to a set number and duration of rest and meal breaks. The previous Government took this right away. We are restoring it. This will give employees enough time to rest refresh and eat during work hours and to be able to continue to work safely. The bill includes a narrow exception for those businesses that provide an essential service or that engage in the security of New Zealand. The previous Government introduced an exemption to the Act that meant small to medium sized employers (SME) could be exempt from having to take on existing employees when a business is restructured or transferred. These rules provide critical protection for vulnerable employees such as cleaners and caterers by allowing them to transfer their employment with the same terms conditions and entitlements to an incoming employer when a contract that affects the work they are doing changes hands. The bill repeals the SME exemption and restores the right for employees to transfer on the same terms and conditions. We believe this is a fundamental protection regardless of the employer's size. This bill also sets out a clear process for other vulnerable categories of employees to be added to the list of workers that receive protections. Finally this bill also limits the use of trial periods to small and medium sized employers that have fewer than 20 employees so that the majority of employees have access to the unjustified dismissal protections from the outset of employment. The bill retains the benefits of trial periods for those firms that face greater risks and costs associated with recruitment performance management and dismissal processes compared to the resources that they have. To conclude this bill provides a package of measures that will enhance the employment relations framework to deliver fairer wages and conditions of employment. We are making things better for Kiwi families. The bill was the subject of careful scrutiny by the Education and Workforce Committee. I'd like to thank the members of the committee for their work on the bill and I'd also like to thank our coalition and confidence and supply partners for their constructive work and advocacy on this bill. This bill is all about building collaborative and constructive relationships for greater productivity in New Zealand and I think it is absolutely splendid that the way this bill has reached its final form is through the deliberations between the three parties of this constructive and collaborative Government. We are showing leadership in the way we do Government and I hope that this demonstrates to the workplaces and to the employers and employees of New Zealand the benefits of working constructively together. I would also like to thank the officials who have worked hard on progressing this bill. Together all of us collectively have made it an incredible bill. I commend this bill to the House.