Mackey Moana: Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Mackey Moana: Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 What a waste of Parliament’s time the Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill is. This could be called the “Employment Relations (What a Waste of Time) Amendment Bill” because that is what it is. What is it about this National Government that the only things it wants to fix are non-existent problems? It does not want to fix all the actual problems that are out there such as the fact that workers cannot get pay rises and that there are no jobs. It cannot fix those problems it has no plan so what does it do? It wants to fix non-existent problems such as the requirement for unions to hold a secret ballot when workers want to strike. We should not be surprised because the member in charge of this bill Tau Henare is widely regarded as the worst union organiser in the history of the universe—in the history of the universe. It is a title he wears with pride. So this bill is a little bit of revenge. Maybe this is the “Employment Relations (Tau Henare’s Revenge) Amendment Bill”. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Tau’s last stand. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Tau’s last stand as my colleague Jacinda Ardern says. I think there is an element of truth in that. This bill does nothing except wrap up people in red tape in bureaucracy and in time-consuming costs all of which National members are meant to hate because Tau Henare wants his revenge. 
The fact is that we do not need this bill because unions already have within their rules the allowance for secret ballots where appropriate. Why does the National Government feel the need to interfere in a relationship between unions and their members—unions and their members—who have democratically decided how they will determine when they strike and when they do not and when secret ballots are held and when they are not? Why does the National Government feel it needs to interfere in that relationship? Why does it need to get involved? There is no problem here. There is no outcry from workers who have been forced to strike when they do not want to. Secret ballots are held all the time as Mr Henare would know if he was not the worst union organiser in the history of the universe. Maybe he does know. Maybe he does not care. I do not know. 
The fact is that this is an utter waste of time. This is the “Employment Relations (Utter Waste of Time) Amendment Bill”. That is quite a high bar given some of the legislation we have seen from this National Government in the area of employment relations. This bill is absolutely pointless because there is no problem. There is no outcry. This is just interfering by a Government that has an ideological opposition to unions that it cannot get over and that wants to divert attention away from the fact that it has no plan to address the actual problems facing New Zealand workers—the actual problems. If it had a plan then maybe we would be here passing legislation that would make a difference in people’s lives instead of legislation that does nothing. It does nothing except impose huge costs. There are a number of industries—I say to Chris Tremain that I think Tau wants to take a call and he is asking for his permission—in New Zealand that are spread across the entire country that have shift workers. It is entirely impractical for them to be able to call all their workers together for a secret ballot. It would impose huge costs. It just would not work at all. 
So what Labour says is let the unions sort that out with their members. That is the relationship where they can sort that out. Whatever their members want they can democratically decide that. A one-size-fits-all approach of the kind we see in this ridiculous legislation tonight will not work. It will not work. It will cost more and it will do nothing. 
My colleague Darien Fenton raised a very good point: if we are going to require this of unions why are we not requiring it of shareholders when a company decides to lock out its workers? Why on the flip side are we not requiring all shareholders to have a secret ballot to say whether they agree? When a company decides to lock out its workers that can have a very negative impact on the reputation of that company. Shareholders might well say that they want to have a say in that because they may not agree that locking out those workers is the right thing to do. Oh but no we do not do that—we do not do that at all. It is only the unions that Mr Henare has in his sights.