‘Hobbit law’ to go, mostly

The Government has introduced a bill to overturn aspects of former Prime Minister John Key’s controversial ‘‘Hobbit law’’.

The Screen Industry Workers Bill, which will reinstate collective bargaining rights for screen industry workers, was introduced to the House yesterday.

The bill is not an outright repeal of the 2010 legislation, as Labour initially promised. The controversial law barred film contractors from collective bargaining and allowed fulltime workers to be hired as independent contractors.

Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said the new bill would restore the rights of workers in the industry, while still allowing for the flexible labour force the film industry requires.

The bill will require companies to have written contracts for all workers with minimal conditions such as protection from bullying. But they will not be able to to go on strike.

The previous law was a direct response to industrial action by actors on director Sir Peter Jackson’s film