Minister of Workplace Relations Iain Lees-Galloway is now in the process of considering the group's recommendations. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Minister of Workplace Relations Iain Lees-Galloway is now in the process of considering the group's recommendations. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Rotorua MPs, unions and business owners largely support recent recommendations around Fair Pay Agreements which would set minimum standards for industries and allow sector-level bargaining.
In June the Government set up a working group to develop a plan to introduce Fair Pay Agreements across entire industries and occupations.
Yesterday that group reported back on the design of a Fair Pay Agreement system.
It delivered 46 recommendations to the Government around sector-level bargaining and those will now be considered.
The recommendations address the initiation of bargaining, coverage of the agreements, scope and the bargaining process of negotiations.
Among the recommendations is one that Fair Pay Agreements cover all employers and that workers should be able to initiate an agreement if they can meet a minimum threshold of 1000 people, or 10 per cent of workers in the sector or occupation, whichever is lower.
Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway will now consider the group's recommendations.
"The model that the working group has proposed would facilitate conversations not only about fair wage rates but about training pathways and opportunities to increase productivity and profit."
Amalgamated Workers Union Bay of Plenty organiser Charles Te Kowhai said the union supported Fair Pay Agreements.
The union largely represents construction workers and Te Kowhai said a Fair Pay Agreement would take the emphasis off cost, when putting in for a tender, and move it towards the quality of work.
"There appears to be a race to the bottom in terms of pricing contracts and tenders.
"With fair pay, it would encourage employers to look at what criteria would win those tenders ... employers will focus on the quality and other aspects of the tender."
John Ryall, assistant national secretary of private sector trade union E Tū, also welcomed the recommendations and said many industries could benefit from a Fair Pay Agreement.
"Many workers, particularly those employed by contractors, are affected by the 'race to the bottom' in their industries. This is why workers such as cleaners have been stuck on or just above minimum wage for far too long.
"The recommendations released [yesterday] are just one step in the process – our union is very eager to see the Government take action on Fair Pay Agreements as soon as possible."
Local business owner Tim Smith, who co-owns accredited living wage businesses Ponsonby Rd and Our House with Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey, also welcomed the recommendations.
"This report says to the Government, it's time to back workers and employers in finally getting Aotearoa ahead of the curve.
"As a living wage employer of 24 staff across two businesses, I back that call. Any notion that a fair deal for workers is an unfair deal for employers is insulting to me and to our community."
Smith said it was possible to be competitive and pay employees a fair wage.
"It really is time not just to see the glass as half full, but to pay the person doing the refill a fair deal."
However Rotorua MP Todd McClay opposed the recommendations saying the working group's proposals would "reduce flexibility for employees and give unions huge control over business practices".
Rotorua MP Todd McClay does not agree with the recommendations. Photo / File
"These proposals would mean that unions could negotiate on behalf of all workers in an industry whether those employees want them to or not."
McClay believed the proposals would be hardest on small businesses and would add significant costs.
"A far better framework to increase wages includes flexibility in the labour markets and respect for the right of individual workers and employees and businesses to agree to their own terms where they chose to."
Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey supported the recommendations of his Government's working party and said the recommendations would help ensure "a decent day's work equals a decent day's pay".
"We can't have employers who have taken the personal responsibility to pay a fair wage, undercut by those who don't. That race to the bottom, for both workers and employers, is holding our community back from a better quality of life."
Rotorua-based list MP Fletcher Tabuteau was not available for comment.
