Fair pay bill ‘exciting’ for workers
A bill making its way through Parliament will bring New Zealand fairness standards into alignment with common international practice, a Labour member of Parliament says.
Nelson MP Rachel Boyack said the Fair Pay Agreements Bill currently going through the select committee process, having passed its first reading, would standardise things like pay and holiday time across select industries.
‘‘We’ll be moving to a bargaining framework that we used to have, that is very common across the world and in Australia, which is why they tend to have higher wages,’’ she said.
Under current laws, unions and employers must bargain on an individual business basis. The new bill proposes a system where agreements are reached between unions and employer associations and applied to all employees in a sector.
She said some public sectors, like health and education, had a similar model already, but the new bill would affect private sector industries. The specific industries to be affected by the bill have not been settled on, but Boyack said supermarkets would be likely contenders. ‘‘It’s pretty exciting, particularly for workers who have been campaigning for this for years,’’ she said.
Boyack, who used to be an organiser with First Union, said while the exact industries it would affect had not been established yet, it would not affect struggling sectors like hospitality and should not lead to increased prices since it would be targeted towards businesses which were known to be making high profits, such as supermarkets. She said other industries being considered included cleaners and bus drivers.
First Union representative and Pak’nSave Richmond union delegate Jenny Wells said the bill would level the playing field for workers, and give them the security to know that their wages and working conditions were the same as any other worker.
‘‘We’ve had a situation where people get paid at different rates, and it just seems to be based on what the employer feels like at the time.’’
She said while fair pay was a big part of it, there were other aspects that would have an impact, like public holidays, which people working on a Tuesday to Saturday schedule essentially missed out on but which could become ‘‘Tuesdayised’’ (similar to Mondayisation).
The bill is going through the select committee process and is open for public submissions until May 19. Should it pass its next readings, it could come into law before the end of the year.