Page 80 - Print21 Nov-Dec 2019

Association News
News updates from the printing industry
Labouring under Labour
PrintNZ CEO Ruth Cobb considers the raft of employment and compliance legislation being introduced or re-introduced.
New Zealand
has been two
years now
with a Labour-
led coalition government. As is often the case the first year of government is spent finding its feet – and in this case that was truer than ever, with New Zealand First exerting its balance of power and making sure it had its say, which delayed the introduction and delivery of many of the promises Labour had committed to deliver.
There were a lot of working groups established to talk things through, but little concrete reform.
Year two of a three year term is nearly always about change; and that is exactly what we have seen in the last 12 months – changes to policy and legislation, coming thick and fast.
Possibly the biggest effect
on business has been the 30 changes made to employment legislation to date. Many of these are simply reversing changes that the Nationals had made during their previous tenure, but nevertheless they require businesses to amend the way they do things to comply, and many increase the already complicated employment pathway. Things such as removing the 90 day trial period for larger businesses, and re- establishing the requirement
to cover all staff for the first
30 days where there is a collective agreement in place are counter-productive, and make businesses wary of who they employ – gone is that ability to just give someone a chance.
And, of course, there has also been a raft of new matters
Get good guidance:
Ruth Cobb, CEO, PrintNZ
introduced that add to the cost and compliance requirements of businesses, not the least of which is a signalled increase of the minimum wage to $20 by 2021, which effectively sees a 27 per cent increase across a four year period or at least a 20 per cent increase during their three year term, with a 6.6 per cent rise already indicated for 1 April. This has implications on not just those that are paid the minimum wage, but those that are paid slightly more than the minimum wage where standard CPI increases would see the gap disappear. Pricing pressures don’t always allow for these increases to be passed on, and put even more pressure on the business to cut costs elsewhere.
The third point that stands out is the increased power given to unions through this legislation with right of entry to workplaces extended, a requirement to opt out of notifying the union of your new employees and the need to cover all new staff for 30 days where a collective exists. Despite this, some 70,000 employees went on strike in 2018, representing the biggest number to go on strike since the late 1980s, and the highest number of days lost
to stoppages since 1992.
This has continued during 2019 causing disruption to hospitals, teaching, retail, and transport. The irony being that the bulk
of those that went on strike are employed by the government.
And there is still more to come. Fair Pay Agreements are likely to make an appearance before the end of Labour’s
term in government. These will cover large groups of workers
in a single occupation such as supermarket workers, rest home workers or bus drivers. Any agreement reached would cover all workers in that occupation, regardless of whether they are union members or not, and
“...are counter productive, and make businesses wary of who they employ – gone is that ability to just give someone a chance.”
regardless of location – so that could potentially see the bus company in Gore having to
pay the same wages as the bus company in Auckland. Minimum redundancy entitlements are also on the list – in an idealistic world that would be fine, but
in most cases the reason for
a redundancy is a financial necessity, and having to then fund redundancy which could potentially be based on the
old 4+2 formula could prove catastrophic for a small business.
Add to all of this the increasing penalties for getting it wrong (both financial and punitive) and employing staff is not for the faint hearted. Now more than ever, it is important to make sure you have good guidance from
the start to the finish of the employment relationship. PrintNZ can help you minimise the risk and save a substantial amount of money, nearly always more than the cost of a membership subscription. So don’t labour on alone – we are here to help you. 21
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Changes arriving: it is two years since Jacinda Ardern was sworn in as prime minister of New Zealand
80 Print21 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
IMAGE: GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF NEW ZEALAND