Jim Eagles: New bill just more of the old

COMMENT

The best that can be said of the Employment Relations Reform Bill is that it is not as bad as was originally intended.

It will not plunge the country back into the industrial dark ages of the 70s and 80s when economic growth almost ground to a standstill.

But it will make life more difficult for employers and will therefore be another reason not to expand.

The reforms represent stage two of the agenda introduced in the Employment Relations Act.

That Act did not, as some employers feared, lead to industrial anarchy, though it has obliged firms to divert resources into labour relations and it has seen an increase in days lost through disputes.

Nor did it, as the Government hoped, lead to a surge in union membership and old-style multi-employer collective agreements.

The latest Bill clearly aims to get the job done.

For instance, it seems to mean a company summoned to negotiations for a multi-employer contract has little option but to follow the process to its conclusion.

Any employer not negotiating in a "responsive, communicative and supportive" way - whatever that means - can be fined and even forced to submit to a form of compulsory arbitration.

Employers can also be in trouble for doing anything to undermine a collective contract including, potentially, paying more to staff on individual contracts.

Owners will find it harder to sell a business or change a contractor.

Time and the courts will decide what the provisions really mean but on the face of it they represent an attempt to revisit the days when everyone was on the collective, unions decided on work practices and ruling rates applied across whole industries regardless of the circumstances of individual firms.

Labour Minister Margaret Wilson says the aim is "free choice, flexibility and fairness to all, to reflect the diversity of workplace arrangements in the labour market and to support a more innovative economy."

In fact, of course, the Bill is designed to do the exact opposite.

Fortunately, there is hope.

The ERA failed to achieve its aims because the vast majority of employers and employees, having tasted the freedom and flexibility of individual contracts, did not want to go back to the old collectivist straitjacket.

The latest version is likely to fail for the same reason.

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