Prebble Richard: Employment Relations Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
Prebble Richard: Employment Relations Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:16187] 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE (ACT) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of the ACT party to speak on clause 1 and I say that in the view of the ACT party this bill should not be called the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill but should actually be called the “Trade Union Promotion Bill”. Perhaps it should even be called the “Return to Compulsory Trade Unionism Bill”. I am obliged to the Green member because he has proudly said to the Committee that this bill has gone through it with the support of the coalition of Labour the Greens and the Maori Party. If we look at the polls we see that the only way Labour can be the Government is if that is the coalition—Labour the Greens and the Maori Party. The Green Party has made it quite clear that the purpose of this bill is to promote trade unionism. The member said that the level of union membership should go to some international norm and then he cited Norway and a figure of 60 percent. He also made it clear—I do not think I am misinterpreting what he said—that in his view this bill does not go far enough. In fact the Green Party had a number of amendments to the bill none of which have been accepted and no doubt those will be part of the agenda. 
What I do object to is the Green member’s claim about freeloading. If we look at this bill and the previous bill we see that they actually make it illegal for employers and their employees to enter into free negotiations between themselves. We heard evidence again and again from employers that they almost never get any constructive proposals from unions and that most of the advances that have been made in conditions and in pay come from the employer. It is the union movement that freeloads. That is not just my opinion. Ninety percent—that is the real figure—of the people in the workforce have decided that they do not want to belong to a trade union but Mr Keith Locke knows better than them and so does the Labour Party and so does the Maori Party! They are going to make those people join unions but they are going to do something else as well. 
Worse than compulsory unionism is that fact that the 90 percent of employees who have not joined the union now face having to pay what is called a bargaining fee. I call it a blackmail fee. Those people will not be able to have the same pay as their fellow workers unless they pay that bargaining fee. Where will the bargaining fee go? It will go to the trade union movement and what will the trade union movement do with that money? Will it be used to advance the interests of people who do not belong to a union? Of course it will not; the unions will give it to the Labour Party. 
It is no wonder that this Government listens very carefully to the trade union movement. In my time in the House I have never seen a member of the trade union movement actually be brought into the lobby of the House to discuss a piece of legislation as it is going through. I think that is completely unparliamentary. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: They got caught out. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Well yes and we actually also know because of the Official Information Act that this bill was written by the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and that— 
Brian Connell 
: They are the architects. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Yes. The Government had a series of secret meetings with the council. I say to the Government again that this is a very extreme piece of legislation. It will promote collective bargaining. That means employers have to sit down with their competitors to discuss their conditions. Why should they do so? This legislation does do that through the bargaining clauses I have mentioned. It also advances the grievance industry in terms of people being able to bring bogus wrongful dismissal cases. 
In my view this bill is actually based on a Marxist idea which is that there is an unequal bargaining position between employers and employees. How out to lunch is this Government? Right now there is a shortage of labour and employers are at a disadvantage. They have to pay large sums of money to attract labour in order to be able to get the labour they need yet this bill is being advanced as part of the Green Maori Party and Labour Party agenda.