Gosche Mark: Holidays (Four Weeks Annual Leave) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Gosche Mark: Holidays (Four Weeks Annual Leave) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:617;Page:12661] 
Hon MARK GOSCHE (Labour—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to take part in this debate. I will firstly congratulate the member responsible—a very good constituent of the Maungakiekie electorate—the Hon Matt Robson who will always vote for his local member he tells me. He has put forward this very good bill—the Holidays (Four Weeks Annual Leave) Amendment Bill. Many people in New Zealand quite often look to Parliament and see only the major parties and too often underestimate the power of being a single MP in this place. In the case of Mr Robson—of course he is part of the Government coalition with the Hon Jim Anderton—from his position of relative weakness in terms of his being only one person he has managed to make a considerable contribution on behalf of working people by promoting this idea. 
I am proud to be part of a Labour-led Government that has picked up on his idea and put it into law with the difference being the date when it will become effective. With the Holidays Act having been passed recently we now know that workers throughout New Zealand can look forward to having that extra week’s leave from 1 April 2007. 
Maybe we need to recall the history because it was not that many years ago that workers in New Zealand were required to work 24 hours a day 7 days a week at the whim of their employer. The Employment Contracts Act—the nastiest legislation this House has seen in many a year—basically put people in the position where that was their lot. 
So New Zealand has become a lot more used to the idea of that level of flexibility in the labour market but it has its downsides as well as its upsides. One of the major downsides is the effect on workers and their families. I am somewhat surprised that United Future—a party that talks about family values—does not understand that family values are very much affected by the nature of the work that people do their employment relationship and the laws that govern that sort of thing. It is not easy for a significant number of workers to have a proper say in the days of the week that they work the hours whether they work night or day and all that sort of thing. 
Certainly it is not possible for a lot of them to initiate bargaining for an extra week’s holiday from their employer. Why is that? Well probably 80 to 90 percent of New Zealand workers work in small workplaces. They have the unique situation of working alongside their boss and it is not always easy even if the boss is a particularly nice person to say: “I would like an extra week’s leave next year please.” It is not as simple as that so at times in history Governments through this Parliament have legislated for extra weeks’ leave and again we have reached a historical point in this nation’s history where this Government prompted by Matt Robson has passed a law that will see that happen. 
We know through the polls taken on this issue by the media that it has widespread support from workers and employers in this country who understand the needs of families and workers for workers to have some time off because they do understand that the labour market is extremely flexible in this country. We are seen internationally as having a set of laws that assist business greatly—we are up there in the top three when those surveys are done. There has to be a consequence of that and that is that people work day and night 7 days a week and that affects their families. So we looked to balance that with a law of this nature. 
What would the National Party do? Well we know what it will do if it ever gets a chance to be the Government again. It will take the workers’ holidays off them. That is the history that National has. We all remember that fellow called Max Bradford—he wanted workers to sell their holidays. He wanted to take them off them. The National Party has learnt nothing from that experience. 
Hon Matt Robson 
: He’s on a permanent holiday now. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: The fact that Max Bradford has a permanent holiday from this place does not get through some people’s heads. That sort of unpopular nonsense leads to people being thrown out of this place and thank goodness Mr Bradford is on an extended holiday. May he never return! 
 The National Party is also threatening at the moment to bring back “the Employment Contracts Act without the soft bits” to quote the Hon Maurice Williamson. What does that mean? Well basically it will be like the flame-thrower and the hand grenade being used all at once. The Employment Contracts Act was seen by the civilised world as being abominable—only Chile under the worst regime had laws that came anywhere near it—and Mr Williamson has indicated that the National Party’s position is to bring it back but to make it harder on workers. So workers out there who might be looking forward to the extra week’s leave that this bill contemplates and that this Government has legislated for can imagine that National if ever given the chance would wipe the slate clean and take away from workers legitimate rights that they have worked for and earned. 
So often in this place we forget the contribution that working people make to the growth in the economy. Did the growth in the economy that we are experiencing just happen by accident? Did it happen just because employers made it happen? No. Members should go and talk to the good employers. People like those from Fisher and Paykel who appeared at a select committee last week know the value of being a good employer of having a productive workforce of working with unions and of saying they will share the profits with the workers fairly. That is the sort of employment relationship most New Zealanders want and that is the sort of relationship this Government is prepared to legislate for unlike members of the parties opposite who basically see workers as some sort of enemy who have to be vanquished and put down and have to have their rights expunged. That is what the National Party and Don Brash would do. So I am very proud of the record that this Government has. 
The Holidays Act did other very good things. I met some workers from Skycity Casino in Auckland the other day. They had to work at Easter and for the first time ever in their working history at that casino—hardly a place that is struggling to make money—they had earned extra for working at Easter. That is the sort of benefit that workers have got. Nobody in this House will stand up and say that Skycity could not afford to pay those workers a little bit more. That is a challenge I would put to Judith Collins who knows all about overseas trips and casinos. We did not hear the casino saying that it would cost customers not $1 but $1.50 to play the slot machines on that day because it was paying time and a half. I did not see that happening at the casino at Easter. No it makes plenty of money out of those workers. For the first time it had to recognise that those workers gave up Easter to be away from their families; this Government had said that they should be rewarded for that. 
This bill is recognition of the contribution workers make to this country to the economy and to business—something the National Party is completely blind to. As I said it thinks that workers are somehow not a part of the economy or a part of New Zealand and should not be rewarded in any way. That is why the National Party will take workers’ holidays off them if it ever gets the chance. That is why it will bring in the most repressive legislation it can think of. 
The improvements to the minimum wage that the Government has seen come in and the health and safety reform—which was needed because a significant number of workers were being maimed and killed in the workplace every week—are the sorts of things that this Government believes in absolutely and to the full. So I congratulate the Hon Matt Robson. Any member of Parliament can get up and make a contribution through a member’s bill. We have seen the wisdom of Matt Robson’s views on the matter adopted them as a Government and put them into the law. The workers out there say that is great and so do the vast majority of their employers.