Government asked to rethink proposed changes to ERA

A QUEENSTOWN tourism leader is worried about repercussions of proposed changes to the Employment Relations Act on local operators.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa is calling on the Government to go back to the drawing board with the Act. The changes include scrapping 90day trials for businesses with more than 20 staff and enforcing times for rest breaks.

It is worried it will impact the visitor experience, and that companies may not hire inexperienced staff.

Skyline chief executive Geoff McDonald said he questioned why the changes were being proposed in the first place.

He was worried the rules might remove flexibility for operators, and believed tourism companies managed rosters responsibly to ensure staff got rest breaks.

‘‘Having a fixed time [for a rest break] is just not feasible. If it ain’t broke, why are we trying to fix it?’’

He also had concerns about the impact of dropping the 90day trial.

‘‘When you’ve got a lot of seasonal workers, there’s quite a bit of churn and change.’’

Getting rid of someone under the clause was ‘‘pretty rare’’.

Employment relations consultant David Buckingham, of Queenstown, said he understood the concerns about set rest breaks, but not the 90day trial.

There were clauses and other ways of firing someone who was not working out, without relying on a 90day trial, Mr Buckingham said.

‘‘Many employers don’t use them properly.

‘‘I don’t think it’s going to wreck the tourism industry.’’

But Workplace Relations Minister Iain LeesGalloway, rubbished the suggestion there would not be any flexibility.

Employers and workers could come up with their own arrangements for rest breaks, Mr LeesGalloway said.

‘‘There should be some faith in employers and workers to come to an arrangement that suits the operation of the business.

‘‘The Bill establishes a fallback position to use where agreement cannot be reached.’’

Ensuring staff were taking breaks was especially important for adventure tourism operators such as whitewater rafting guides and bungy jump masters.

‘‘Workers who don’t take breaks are more likely to have accidents and many of these workers have responsibility for others’ safety as well.’’