The House moved into urgency last night to allow the rapid repeal of Labour’s Fair Pay Agreement legislation as well as the limits imposed on the use of 90-day employee trials.
It’s prompted the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions to organise a rally at Parliament this morning alongside the delivery of a petition, signed by more than 14,000 people protesting the axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs), which made it easier for workers to band together to negotiate wages and working conditions.
“We are not going to sit on our hands while this Government takes away the biggest progress for workers in a generation,” Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff said.
“The Government will hear our voice loud and strong against this move which its own officials say would disproportionately impact women, Māori, Pacific people, young people, and disabled people.”
Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono interrogated Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden on this issue in the House yesterday, where the Act deputy leader defended the move.
“Nobody will be worse off with the removal of the FPAs because there have not been any FPAs finalised,” she said to lots of jeering from Opposition MPs.
Meanwhile, 90-day trials for businesses were first introduced under John Key’s National-led Government for businesses with fewer than 20 employees before it was extended to all businesses in 2010, a move then opposed vehemently and described by union leaders as the “biggest labour shake-up in 20 years”.
Labour in 2018 restored the trials to businesses with under 20 employees, among other measures, but now the new Government has vowed to return it to the original legislation.
On Monday, van Velden said extending the trials allowed greater opportunities for employees as employers could then take a risk on someone who “might not tick all the boxes in terms of skills and experience but who has the right attitude, without the risk of a costly dismissal process”.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden fronted at Monday's post-Cabinet press conference. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Alongside FPAs and 90-day trials, the Government intended to repeal legislation that directed the Reserve Bank to focus on lowering unemployment and return the central bank’s complete concentration to keeping inflation within the 1 to 3 per cent target.
Labour’s Clean Car Discount scheme, dubbed the ute tax, would also be gone by the end of the year.
During Question Time yesterday, Labour leader Chris Hipkins used the Reserve Bank change to show the division within the coalition by quoting former comments made by New Zealand First MPs regarding the bank’s dual mandate.
One of those examples was a previous comment from NZ First MP Shane Jones, who had once said the Reserve Bank’s dual mandate was “best practice”.
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones, sitting next to Peters, could be seen laughing as his quote was read.
Peters attempted to answer by saying, “We have to move on,” before he was cut off by Labour’s Grant Robertson who immediately called out, “You’re out Shane, you’re gone”, to much laughter in the House.
Peters persisted by saying the Reserve Bank needed to solely focus on lowering inflation which had been grown through the previous government’s spending, he alleged.
There was also a lengthy debate during Question Time about questions asked in te reo Māori after Peters initially didn’t answer a question in te reo from Te Pāti Māori.
Following the question, Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee ruled Peters, who is Māori, could respond if he wanted to. That raised concern from several Opposition party leaders about the precedent it set.
Brownlee agreed to review the matter. The Speaker’s office did not respond to theHerald’s request for comment on the outcome of his review.
Waititi was then allowed to repeat his questions in te reo. Jones, sitting next to Peters, whispered the translations in English before Peters answered in English.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi during his swearing-in last week. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Following Question Time, Waititi and fellow co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer weren’t satisfied with the actions of Brownlee and Peters.
“I’m a little bit disappointed with the ruling that the Speaker made initially,” Waititi said.
“If the question is out of order, I understand, you can choose not to answer the question, but if the question is in order and being asked in an official language of this country in te reo Māori, what this tells us that this Government is hell-bent on cancelling and erasing our people.”
“The Deputy Prime Minister is refusing to listen to te reo Māori,” Ngarewa-Packer said.
“What is disgusting is that it’s happening in our House in Aotearoa in 2023 and the Speaker does need to do more about it.”
Peters denied he hadn’t responded to the question and highlighted how the House’s translation service could be “very, very slow”.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
