Cunliffe David: Employment Relations Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCunliffe David: Employment Relations Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 22 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:181. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn):It is very interesting to be here tonight. It is a day in this Parliament when we are enjoying the maiden speeches of new members across the Chamber. Over the last couple of days we have been in the ceremonial phase of the opening of this new Parliament. For those of us who have been here a few years a few terms it is always a welcome time because it is a very human time. We mix as MPs and we celebrate the talent and the experience that people bring to Parliament across the Chamber.Then we come to this bill. This is really the first substantive piece of legislation that the Government has put before the country. Here all of the camaraderie the parliamentary process and the chivalry if you like are put aside and we come down to the differences between that side of the Chamber and this. It does not matter what you call it—at the end of the day the National Party represents the interests of capital and the Labour Party represents the interests of labour. The clue is in our name—the clue is in our name. And it is in our colour too which has got a bit of a history to it but the clue is in our name.Debates like this lay bare the age-old struggle between the interests so-called of capital to drive down labour costs by any means necessary and the interests of workers to bind together to protect the basic minimums. Here is the thing: the historical economic evidence shows that capital left to its own devices actually eats its own young. In the 1990s when the National Government last tried this despicable trick through a thing called the Employment Contracts Act we suffered through it for a decade. The cost was evident in two dimensions: firstly in human misery. We saw a rapid widening of the gap between rich and poor we saw a rapid increase in poverty we saw a rapid increase in the diseases of poverty and a growing child poverty problem which is still with us—sheeted home to employment law changes like this that eroded the situation of those who work hard but do not earn a lot.But here was the second effect out of the Employment Contracts Act: labour productivity declined. Why? Because it created an incentive for capital to substitute investment in machinery tools training and productivity-enhancing investments for cheap labour—for cheap labour. What happened as a result was that labour productivity declined in New Zealand and started to get way ahead of us in Australia. The Employment Contracts Act measured in terms of its human impact and measured in terms of its economic impact was a failure.Enter the Clark - Cullen Government and the Employment Relations Act which this bill amends that sought to find a sensible middle ground. It did not go back towards awards or compulsory unionism or some of the arrangements that pre-dated the Employment Contracts Act. What it did do was put in place obligations of good-faith bargaining and a reasonable set of minimum protections. That is what we are here today to watch the short-sighted National Government attempt to remove. Pillar by pillar brick by brick stone by stone it is tearing down the temple of decency and building instead the ramshackle structure of the short-term self-perceived interest of capital.So some examples—let us get out of the clouds and down to the grassroots. Let us take Part 6A. Let us talk about some real people like Mele Tavete a Wellington cleaner whom colleagues will have mentioned who has been cleaning the same premises for 20 hours a week for 17 years. What happened was when Mele’s employer changed because the contract was sold to a small company it told Mele that she had to have her hours radically reduced. She was working only 20 hours. She refused to take the lower hours and asked to be paid out. Part 6A protected her so that she could get reasonable compensation. Under the law as amended by this bill she would have got nothing. So somebody who has done nothing wrong after 17 years earning the minimum wage or close to it loses the most basic rights because the naked interests of capital have driven the Government—[Bell rung] Mr Chairman. That was my first call Mr Chairman.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): I call the Hon David Cunliffe but I do want to warn members that we are on the Committee stage.Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE: Mr Chairman I recognise your guidance. The amendments to Part 6A are contained in Part 1 and as we go back to Part 6A the amendment removes the protections that apply to workers who are contracted out. So nothing changes for the workers except that the ownership of the business changes and the new owner uses that as an excuse to erode their terms and conditions. The sad fact is this is most often to be used against the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers. It is wrong. It is just wrong. It is unethical it is un-sensible from an economic point of view and it is wrong.Let us move to another of the provisions “Rest and meal breaks”. As we went around the country during the campaign that we have just had this was iconic. It was the ACT Party’s support that was withdrawn that prevented this bill from going through before the election. It was withdrawn because the member concerned was on his way to the slammer and was no longer able to be a member of Parliament. That is why this bill did not get through before the election.This is a kind of conservative’s dream. Imagine a provision that is already flexible—which is to allow something like a minimum 10-minute rest break and a minimum half hour lunch break on a flexible arrangement to be agreed mutually between the boss and the worker—all gone. All gone because the naked interests of capital played out through the National Party and its little subsidiary brand—whatever his name is over there. That is vested in this piece of legislation which takes away the 10-minute smoko break. Workers around the country get this. It is something that belongs in a Charles Dickens story. It takes us back to sweatshop economics. It takes us back to 19th century labour law. It is a ridiculous shameful thing to do in the 21st century.This part also removes fundamentally the duty to conclude collective bargaining. The idea here is good faith means two sides negotiate and both sides have an obligation to reach a conclusion. It does not mean they have to agree. It does not mean that either side has to give in but they both have to sit at the table and talk their way through the problem until they get to a compromise or a stand-off which then is referred to arbitration. Not now. Not now because this bill gives the employer a scot-free “get out of jail free” card.Let us walk away! Spray and walk away—that is what this bill permits. Gone is decency gone is the fair middle ground and gone are the privileges that have been hard fought for over the years. Kiwis out there will know that on the first legislating day of this the final term of this Government they chose to break through the camaraderie of the parliamentary process and remind every single New Zealander that they are here to do the bidding of the bosses. They are here to pursue the naked interest of capital against the minimum decencies for Kiwi families that have been hard fought for.That is the reality of the 2014 election—this piece of paper. First up: the Employment Relations Amendment Bill—the “Take Away the Smoko Break Bill” the “Get Out of Jail Free Spray and Walk Away Gone is Good-Faith Bargaining Remove the Protections for the Most Vulnerable Bill”. I am reminded of a passage in the Bible which says to those who have much so will more be given but for those who have little even that which they have will be taken away. Well hey presto! It is taken away in this bill. National should be ashamed of itself except it has done New Zealand a favour. It has just told us what it is really about and we are not going to forget it. This Labour Party is going to take the fight to those craven cronies of capital for the next 3 years so that New Zealanders have a real choice and can do what is right decent and fair which is throw out this pile of rubbish and give ordinary New Zealanders a fair go.