Strengthening workers’ rights

Creating a society that works for everyone starts with strong worker rights. Our industrial relations system is broken. It’s time for bold change.

Reform employment laws to create better workplaces

Aotearoa New Zealand’s industrial relations framework is currently unfit for purpose. Many people are stuck in low-paid and insecure forms of employment, and we struggle, as a country, to sustainably improve living standards. We propose a transformative package of change that is focused on lifting union and worker rights. The first step here would be an omnibus Employment Relations bill. This Bill would reinstate Fair Pay Agreements, remove trial periods, protect contractors, including those working in the gig economy, strengthen workplace health and safety, and extend pay equity claims.

Give workers a voice in developing policy that affects them

Workers’ voices are sidelined in many workplaces and industries, and in national policymaking. Many of the reforms proposed in this report will help to strengthen worker voice. To improve worker voice in the policymaking process, we propose the establishment of a tripartite entity (where the Government, unions, and business work together) that oversees employment and economic policy development and implementation. This entity would work with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, or its successor, to ensure that the interests of both workers and employers are properly understood and reflected in employment relations policy.

Establish a workplace education authority

We propose re-establishing a publicly funded Workplace Education Authority that will support unions and employers to engage in social dialogue and industrial democracy. It will work to improve understanding of workers’ rights and health and safety and will enhance productivity in workplaces through the promotion of genuine worker–employer engagement.

Close pay gaps and establish pay transparency

Pay equity claims are the most effective mechanism for closing the gender and ethnic pay gaps that persist in many industries. The process for pay equity claims and the maintenance of equitable rates needs to be made easier and faster for claimants, and the Pay Equity Taskforce needs to be restored. Pay transparency is also essential to close these pay gaps. We propose the establishment of a publicly available register (and analysis) that provides information on the pay and conditions by sector, occupation, ethnicity, and gender. We also propose to mandate pay gap reporting and end pay secrecy.

Ensure that new technology benefits everyone

New digital technologies such as artificial intelligence are driving rapid transformation in the workplace and wider society. Although these technologies can bring opportunities for workers, such as improved health and safety and higher wages, they also bring risks, such as increased workplace surveillance and job loss. We need to investigate whether the regulatory system is currently fit to ensure workers benefit from and are not harmed by new digital technologies.