KiwiSaver

The current legislation allows employers to agree a total remuneration package with employees. This can include the employer’s KiwiSaver contribution.

Labour, however, will ban new total remuneration contracts that absorb KiwiSaver contributions from employers into salaries. Labour will also raise the minimum employer contribution to 6%, even when employees reduce or pause their own contribution.

The rationale for this is that employers should be required to contribute to employees’ KiwiSaver over and above the employees’ wages.

The impact this will have on employers will vary, depending on their size. Employers generating modest revenue are likely to be most impacted, although larger employers will be required to contribute significant numbers of employees’ KiwiSaver funds.

Over time, it is anticipated the market will respond with additional employer contributions being offset by smaller increases to wages or wage freezes.

The 30-day rule

The coalition government removed the previous 30-day rule. This provided that for the first 30 days of employment, a new employee was deemed to be on the same terms and conditions as set out in the applicable collective agreement.

After that time, an employee could elect to go on to an individual employment agreement.

Labour has indicated it is committed to reinstating the 30-day rule if it is elected. It seems the Green Party is aligned with Labour on this issue, having described removal of the rule as a “dark day for Aotearoa”.

Automatic enrolling of new employees in unions

The Greens have proposed automatically enrolling new employees in unions. The rationale is that it would “strengthen workers’ collective voice”.

The intention is to address declining union membership and weakened bargaining power, and widening income inequality linked to declining unionisation and barriers preventing willing workers from joining unions.

The Labour Party is non-committal on the idea while strongly supporting unions and the vital role they play in securing fair pay, safe workplaces and a stronger voice for workers.

Employment Leave Act

Labour and the Greens have stated that the Employment Leave Act promotes insecure work and will leave thousands of workers worse off.

Criticisms include that the Act ties annual leave and sick leave to standard hours only, rather than all hours worked.

Labour has consistently opposed that approach because it means workers can do the same job for the same employer and receive different leave outcomes depending on how their hours are classified.

Labour also believes that the Act risks entrenching unequal access to paid leave for part-time, casual and otherwise vulnerable workers and make accessing leave harder.

The Green Party has said women, young people, Māori, Pasifika and migrant workers are more likely to be in “non-standard” employment arrangements and will therefore be disproportionately negatively affected by the Act.

Despite this, amendments to the Holidays Act have been an extremely long time coming. Labour previously established a Tripartite Holidays Act Taskforce which delivered 22 recommendations in 2021. It’s unclear whether Labour will, in fact, make changes if elected and, if so, the extent of those changes.

No unjustified dismissal rights for income over $200,000 p.a.

It’s not clear whether Labour and Green parties will reinstate the right to bring an unjustified dismissal grievance for those earning over $200,000 a year.

While those earning over $200,000 per year are unlikely to be traditional Labour/Green Party voters, there is a concern that stripping protections from one tier of workers sets a dangerous precedent.

Fair Pay Agreements Act 2022

The Fair Pay Agreements Act provided a framework for collective bargaining for fair pay agreements across entire industries or occupations, rather than just between unions and particular employers. Labour leader Chris Hipkins has confirmed the party’s pledge to restore fair pay agreements, alongside restoring pay equity laws and extending the living wage.

In tandem with restoring fair pay agreements, Labour is campaigning on a broader worker platform which includes creating a corporate manslaughter/homicide offence to hold companies criminally liable for workplace deaths resulting from serious negligence.

Serious misconduct, contributory behaviour and obstructive behaviour

Both Labour and the Greens strongly opposed reducing remedies such as compensation for hurt and humiliation and reinstatement, where an employee’s behaviour is found to amount to serious misconduct. The same applies for the removal of or reduction in remedies due to an employee’s contributory conduct.

In light of those comments, it’s predicted that should Labour/the Greens be elected, they will largely restore the remedies previously available to employees.

Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act

The Labour Party has stated it intends to repeal the HSWA Act.

New Zealand First has signalled a desire to revisit certain aspects of it, regardless of election results. Labour has said the HSWA Act weakens protections that kept people safe and risks more injuries and deaths while doing nothing to reduce New Zealand’s already unacceptable rate of workplace fatalities.

The Greens also expressed concerns that the Bill was rushed, without sufficient due diligence.

Contractor gateway test

Both Labour and the Greens strongly opposed the legislation through the select committee. The Greens stated that the law was “an anti-worker measure that sided with big corporate interests over regular people, stripping workers of basic protections”. Labour argued that the law undermined core employment protections and created an unfair sub-class of low-rights workers.

It’s highly likely that should Labour and the Greens be elected, they will make amendments to this legislation.

Minimum wage freeze

While not a change implemented by the coalition government, the Act pledges to freeze adult minimum wage and lower youth training rates. Under Act’s policy, the adult minimum wage will be frozen for three years, while a training wage will be set at 60% of the adult minimum wage for workers under 20.

Act’s rationale is that a three-year freeze on the minimum wage would “give productivity and market wages time to catch up, while giving businesses certainty over one of their largest costs”.

Act believes the current settings make it harder for young people to get their first job, the government requiring an employer to pay an inexperienced teenager almost the same minimum rate as an experienced adult. Labour has responded that working people will pay the price for Act’s policies and that a wage freeze will take under 20-year olds backwards.

Time will tell firstly, whether we have a change of government and secondly, the extent to which a new government would repeal the coalition’s changes.

However, given the opposition to several of these changes, it’s highly likely that if Labour and/or the Greens are elected, the legislation will be amended to improve workers’ rights.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not purport to be specific legal or professional advice.