The government expects to have a new legislative framework in place next year to let film workers negotiate collectively but it won't include all screen work.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway today announced the government's intention to introduce a new employment model for screen workers, who are typically contractors. He tasked a working group of industry and union representatives to come up with ideas on how to deal with the power imbalance and has been considering its recommendations since October.
The working group said incremental steps were important to ensuring any collective bargaining framework was durable, and that deals be done at a sub-industry level covering terms and conditions.
The film sector's use of contractors has been a focal point for industrial law since a 2005 Supreme Court ruling against Peter Jackson's Three Foot Six unit. The judges ruled that a model maker for Weta Workshops employed as an independent contractor was effectively an employee. The previous administration rewrote the law in 2010 after Hollywood studio Warner Bros threatened to pull filming of The Hobbit movie out of New Zealand.
"This model will deliver workplace rights to more workers than a straight repeal of the 'Hobbit law' would have," Lees-Galloway said in a statement. "Instead, we are ensuring more workers gain workplace protections while providing certainty and flexibility for our internationally-competitive screen sector."
