12. CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Labour
How many complaints, if any, about union access to the workplace being abused by unions or union members has she received since becoming the Minister of Labour?
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Transport) Link to this
The Minister has spoken to many employers around the country since becoming the Minister of Labour, some of whom have raised with her the issue of union access. She has also received correspondence on this issue. However, she does not have a spreadsheet cataloguing every complaint.
Why is the Government proposing restricting the right of workers to have union representatives in the workplace when her own policy paper dated 15 May 2009 stated: “There does not appear to be widespread evidence of union representatives exercising their current rights to enter workplaces in an inappropriate way, resulting in disruption for business operations or adversely impacting on the employment relationship between employer and unions members.”?
A subsequent policy paper also says that providing discretion could enable employers to undertake better business planning—for example, avoiding any unforeseen stoppages and potentially rescheduling activities around employee availability. The reality is that this is not a widespread problem, but where abuse does occur it can cause significant disruption.
What specific problems with the current arrangements is this proposed law seeking to address given that even Business New Zealand has said that this is not a high priority and that it does not receive many complaints from employers?
There have been some cases where unions have caused problems by using the right of access law—for example, pulling workers into long meetings unannounced, blocking customers trying to access stores, and making public scenes inside premises in order to embarrass employers.
What advice has she provided to the Prime Minister since he told the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions that this issue was “not a driving priority” for him that caused him to change his mind?
I am not in a position to be able to discuss what advice the Minister has given the Prime Minister on that matter.
Carmel SepuloniDoes the Minister agree that by restricting the right of workers to have access to union advice at the workplace during a 90-day trial period, the Government is making our most vulnerable workers more vulnerable than ever; and will the Minister therefore support my member’s bill to repeal the 90-day fire-at-will period?
I reject the premise at the opening of the member’s supplementary question, because this is about reasonableness, and reasonableness will be based on common sense. The reality is that if a workplace has a busy workload and needs all staff on deck, it can reschedule a union visit to another time. Saying no is not being unreasonable.