Bradford Sue: Employment Relations Amendment Bill — In Committee Recommittal Third Reading 
Bradford Sue: Employment Relations Amendment Bill — In Committee Recommittal Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:469] 
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
: 
 As members will be well aware by now the Green Party is totally opposed to the Employment Relations Amendment Bill. It is an affront to the rights of hundreds of thousands of New Zealand workers. The Council of Trade Unions estimates that around 100000 workers at any given moment are in a position where they will be affected by the impacts of this legislation and that over the course of a year the figure is likely to be around 700000 workers. There is also the fact that in this age people change jobs a lot more than they did in years gone by which means that people will over and over again be affected by the fact that they are in the first 90 days of their employment. 
This is a disgraceful attack on workers’ rights at a time of rising unemployment and job insecurity. Sadly we see every day now newspaper reports of jobs being lost. We have just had the report over the last 24 hours of what is happening in the manufacturing sector. We know that retailing is really under pressure—and who knows what is going to happen there once Christmas is over? The wood industry is being decimated around the country at the moment. We have had job losses just this week from the ANZ the BNZ Tritec Manufacturing the Warehouse and other employers and a whole lot more jobs that we actually never even hear about are being lost. That means that the impacts of what will happen once this legislation takes effect will really be accentuated because people who are unemployed and seeking work of course will be in this position—if they are lucky enough to even get a chance at a job. This bill will make their situation even worse. 
Within the people who will be affected as the Maori Party has recognised will be Maori who are among the groups of people most affected by the bill. Once again I would like to say “Good on you!” to the Maori Party members for being willing within just the first couple of days to stand up to their new ally the National Party and their ally the ACT Party and to just say no they will not support this legislation. They are sticking to the principles they had when they earlier in 2006 finally made the good decision to oppose Dr Mapp’s bill at that time. It is great that the Maori Party members are sticking to that decision and understand how this bill will really affect their own people. 
Another group who will be disproportionately affected of course will be migrant workers who often find it really difficult to get into the New Zealand workforce and who are still sadly subject to a lot of racial prejudice in the workplace. Women too will be affected and I note that just last night there was a press release from the Federation of Business and Professional Women. That is not a left-wing radical trade union but a group of women who work in the business and professional community. The federation says this bill is a huge step backwards for New Zealand women. It is horrified that the bill is not going through the select committee process when it is something that will impact on workers so adversely. The federation says: “Employers should have robust employment processes and administer them competently to ensure they employ the right person rather than rely on being able to sack someone if they find they’ve got it wrong.” 
In respect of young people National promotes the myth that this bill will assist them to get work and that somehow this measure will be great for the young people of this country who do often find it hard to get their first chance in the workplace. In fact the bill is likely to have the opposite effect of that on young workers. For example those who get a job and are full of hope and enthusiasm because it is their big chance may then within the first 90 days for some reason or no reason at all find themselves out of the workforce. That is very damaging for people in their early years of employment when they are just adjusting to the workplace and learning how it all works. 
The National Government has for some reason talked a lot about the benefits of this bill for ex-prisoners. That is quite ironic as others from Labour have pointed out given National’s stand during the election campaign on law and order. But it is great that National does care about the fate of ex-prisoners and their need to find a place in the world of work. I cannot quite understand how National thinks this legislation will in any way particularly help ex-prisoners. In many cases now ex-prisoners who find work do so only through a probationary employment situation which is allowable under the existing employment law. In fact the bill will do nothing for ex-prisoners. I think it will make matters worse for them because employer prejudices against criminals and former criminals are very high for natural reasons. This bill will make it easier for employers to follow their prejudices and get rid of people in that situation if they want to without having to give any reason at all. 
But it is a myth that this bill will affect only categories of people like ex-prisoners migrants Maori young people and so on. This legislation can apply to anyone who takes a job with or moves jobs to an employer who has fewer than 20 staff. I note a release this morning from the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists—again an organisation that is not really at the low end of the workforce—which is very concerned about the impact this legislation will have on doctors who for example work in places such as union and community health centres and in other places for small employers. A doctor may move to a rural district. He or she may uplift the family and go to Kaitaia to work in the local primary health organisation and for some reason be dismissed within the first 90 days. The association is very concerned about the impact of this legislation on its sector. 
We are only just beginning to hear such stories because of the lack of process around this bill. If we had had a select committee process I am sure we would have literally thousands of submissions telling us all these stories that are just starting to come out now. If we had had a select committee process we would have had a chance to get really good advice on amendments to the bill. The Labour Party and the Green Party valiantly attempted last night to put up really good amendments that would have helped the bill and some of them I believe National members could even possibly have supported if they had the time to consider them. But when one rushes a process like this one does not end up with good legislation. One ends up with a shambles. 
An area that the Green Party has been particularly concerned about and where we put up a Supplementary Order Paper was around the issue of what will happen to people who lose their jobs as a result of the “fire at will” bill then register at Work and Income and are asked why they left their job. If there is any allegation of misconduct they are subject to the 13-week stand-down. Now that puts a whole heap of workers into a double-jeopardy situation. Not only are they losing their job for whatever reason; they are also possibly subject to 13 weeks without any income at all at the whim of Work and Income. 
The Minister Ms Wilkinson—and I am grateful for her clarity on this—over and over again said that is not actually the Government’s policy intention with regard to this measure. National did not support the Green Party’s Supplementary Order Paper which attempted to make it clear that that could not happen but I invite the Minister to watch the situation with the Ministry of Social Development very very closely—as I will be watching it—once this bill comes into effect to ensure that the negative impacts that we have been talking about do not occur. I really hope that we will not see people who have been laid off as a result of this bill then enduring a 13-week stand-down. There is also a real problem area where people have an allegation of misconduct made against them but then have no way to clear their name because there is no access to the Employment Relations Authority or the Employment Court and then it is up to Work and Income to make a judgment over whether the misconduct happened. Who knows! Work and Income case managers are not the people best placed to make those kinds of judgments. 
One of our biggest concerns around this bill of course is that no one ultimately is safe. Although at this stage its application is limited to workplaces of 20 or fewer people there is a statement which a number of us have referred to in the explanatory note of the bill that basically the Government is looking in the future to extend this measure out to all workers. Now that is something that everyone who cares about workers’ rights in this country will have to be very conscious of in the months ahead. We are very concerned about this legislation being the thin edge of the wedge of a whole series of potential attacks on workers and beneficiaries. Of course we hope that does not happen. We hope that the National Party does not go down that road. But I think we all have to be very alert. 
There are many many reasons why this bill should not go through. For example because the new Minister is Mrs Kate Wilkinson I was reminded the other day of the human resources professionals meetings a number of us spoke at early in the election campaign. Mrs Wilkinson spoke about KiwiSaver; that became the only story about that meeting. But those of us who were there will remember that there were hundreds of human resources professionals in the room. That profession has done a lot of work in the last decade or so around uplifting employment practices and trying to improve how employers treat workers in the workplace for the benefit of both employers and workers. I believe that this bill actually undermines all the good work that those human resources professionals have been doing because they are about helping people to learn how to do jobs well treating workers well and explaining issues when things go wrong: if a worker is incompetent does not turn up to work on time or whatever the issue is. They actually work with people so that they become better at their job rather than simply firing them at will. 
This bill will not reduce unemployment. Instead it will increase unemployment as employers find it much easier to fire people for any reason or no reason at all. It is a disgraceful attack on the working people of this country and it will not be forgotten when the next election comes around.