Fox Marama: Employment Relations Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFox Marama: Employment Relations Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 30 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:445. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA FOX (Māori Party):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. I want to start by apologising for completely stuffing up the vote just a few minutes ago.Hon Annette King: Don’t worry—don’t worry.MARAMA FOX: I know—it is a learning curve. I am going to make sure that I get this one right because this is one that we feel very strongly about.The Māori Party stands to oppose again the Employment Relations Amendment Bill. For the benefit of the other new members who might need some advice like I did and just to make it perfectly clear the Māori Party voted against the first reading of the bill on 5 June 2013 we voted against the second reading on 19 March 2014 and we will be opposing it again. There was never any question in our minds as to why we oppose the bill. He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata he tangata he tangata. It has always been about the people—in this case the situation for workers and their whānau.Louisa Wall: That applies to every vote.MARAMA FOX: Kia ora. We believe that this bill will weaken workers’ rights by allowing bosses to walk away from collective agreements. The new law introduces the right for employers to opt out of multi-employer collective bargaining. Although we welcome the new measure that requires employers to have first acted in good faith it is the fact that the principle of collective bargaining is threatened that we are particularly concerned about.The concept that we in the Māori Party have always believed in is that innovation in the economy should be built upon a foundation of workers’ rights and terms. It should not be a case of either/or. We believe that our community and our nation can have both. We believe that our people can be both employer and employee. We can create future prospects of economic growth while at the same time adhering to conditions of employment that are socially and economically fair.I want to share with the House an anecdote that comes appropriately from a book called Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time: “We all sat there laughing and sipping tea peacefully … An infidel and representatives from three warring sects of Islam. And I thought if we can get along this well we can accomplish anything. The British policy was ‘divide and conquer.’ But I say ‘unite and conquer.’” I turn to us in this House and remind us of the importance of kotahitanga—a purpose for being that unites us and achieves gains through working together.This week the Labour member for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti Meka Whaitiri issued a challenge to iwi leaders to step in on the Employment Relations Amendment Bill on which I congratulate her. I support this. I want to place on the record that when the Talley’s strikes happened in Wairoa the Māori Party did exactly that. We called in the iwi to support the workers and the iwi leaders came to the call. Ngāti Kahungunu provided support for whānau affected by loss of income. The Māori Party joined with iwi leaders taking on a mediator role. Through collective solidarity the employers the iwi the Māori Party and the whānau were able to unite and conquer. We should never forget that our greatest capacity for influence is not only through speaking out and against; it can come even more persuasively when we work together speaking up to unite.Iwi leaders are the employers and employees. They are members of whānau. They are workers. They care for whānau in te rohe just as the members of the Māori Party or the Labour Party or all the parties in this House can effectively do. We need to work together for the greatest gain which in this case is to support workers’ rights. The goal would be that we work collectively with Māori organisations to make a difference. My greatest hope is that in this Parliament we can work together for what is right. Dividing certain groups against each other will never achieve the difference we need.The Māori Party has always spoken out in support of the right of workers to be treated fairly. We are particularly concerned in this legislation with the change to the rule protecting the jobs of vulnerable workers in industries such as catering cleaning and laundry services when the employer loses a contract to a rival bidder. We know that the people whom it will most likely affect will be those in these sectors—caretakers hospital orderlies and such. We know that it is women Māori and ethnic minorities who make up the majority of those workers. Disadvantaged groups often low paid have limited bargaining strength in the labour market and are most likely to be disadvantaged by these changes that strengthen employers’ rights and power. Greater protection is needed for these workers not less.We believe that the proposed changes to rest and meal breaks are inconsistent with international human rights and have negative implications for healthy and safe working conditions particularly for vulnerable workers including our youth. For the record once more—and I will make sure that I get it right—we oppose the bill.