High spirits as new ERA dawns

By VERNON SMALL

It is out with the old and in with the new industrial relations law today, as the Employment Relations Act (ERA) comes into force.

Welcomed by unionists, but vilified by employers' representatives, the new law replaces the 1991 Employment Contracts Act.

It provides for a regime based on good faith bargaining and introduces a stronger role for unions and collective negotiations in the workplace.

Unions heralded the change with a plane towing a banner over Auckland yesterday proclaiming, "Fairness at work begins now."

Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said the significance of today would be marked by celebratory smokos and after-work barbecues.

Prime Minister Helen Clark described the ERA as "a better and fairer law" that would bring New Zealand back into the mainstream of international industrial law.

She said many unions and employers were working on a smooth transition. "I am personally very optimistic about it."

But National MP Max Bradford, who steered the ECA through its select committee stage, said its replacement was part of the Government's "great business clobbering machine."

It would start to bite from mid-2001, exacerbating skill shortages.

Herald Online feature: Employment Relations Act

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