New Zealander of the year Kristine Bartlett left 'ropeable' by labour law campaign

Friday, 17 August 2018

Kristine Bartlett, left, celebrates a historic pay equity settlement in April 2017. A Lower Hutt care worker, Bartlett became the face a lengthy legal battle which ended in a $2 billion settlement affecting 55,000 low-paid Kiwi workers.

Kristine Bartlett, the care worker whose groundbreaking legal battle won a pay equity claim for 55,000 low-paid Kiwi workers, has waded into a battle between unions and business over labour law reform.

The 2018 New Zealander of the year has written to the chief executives of at least six major companies questioning their commitment to equal pay, highlighting statements in the 'fix the bill' campaign headed by BusinessNZ's member groups.

Kirk Hope, the chief executive of BusinessNZ said Bartlett is being 'used' by unions which were realising businesses had valid concerns about proposed labour law changes.

Bartlett's issue centres on a press release issued by the Auckland-based Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA), announcing the 'fix the bill' campaign, which calls for changes to the Employment Relations Act, which is currently before Parliament.

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But as well as raising issue with four key points of the law, EMA chief executive Kim Campbell listed both pay equity and equal pay as examples of a 'roll call' of law changes that were causing businesses to put investment and hiring on hold.

Kirk Hope, the chief executive of BusinessNZ said it was 'nonsense' to claim the organisation was opposed to equal pay, as it was part of a group which helped the Government define the principles of pay equity for legislation to enact settlements.

Business confidence has become a major political issue, with the Government insisting the fundamentals of the economy are strong, the Opposition claiming it is because of the Government's mishandling of the economy, and the Government's backers claiming it is political bias.

The references are separate to the main thrust of the campaign, which focuses on areas such as the end of 90-day trials for many businesses and multi-party collective agreements.

However the Council of Trade Unions have pointed out that Hope repeated the references in an opinion piece for Stuff, while EMA chief executive Kim Campbell referred to fair pay as one of areas creating 'a great deal of ambiguity' for employers.

Nevertheless Bartlett said the statement left her 'ropeable' as it suggested that women were 'seen as a liability' in the workforce. In response, she wrote letters demanding clarification of their position.

'I just want them to get on with it, and accept what's happened. They should be celebrating as we have been celebrating,' Bartlett said, adding that despite her legal victory, employment was 'booming' in social sectors.

'The sky hasn't fallen in, has it?'

ANZ New Zealand chief executive David Hisco, pictured at a post-Budget breakfast with Finance Minister Grant Robertson. Bartlett wrote to Hisco saying the fix the bill campaign left her 'disheartened'.

The companies she wrote to - ANZ, Westpac, Spark, Vodafone, The Warehouse and Lion - were chosen because they were entrants, and in some cases winners, in equal pay awards.

'These businesses I wrote to have have already publicly committed and support the equal pay case, and also took credit for the pay equity principles,' Bartlett said.

'They can't have it both ways. Either accept, pay women fairly for the work that they do, or don't. That's what I want to find out. Do they or don't they' support equal pay.

In a letter to ANZ New Zealand chief executive David Hisco, provided by the Council of Trade Unions through the E tū union to Stuff, Bartlett wrote that the campaign had left her 'deeply disheartened' by raising concerns about equal pay and pay equity.

'I would like to know whether, as a member of Business New Zealand, you endorse this 'Fix the Bill' campaign and the comments of its spokespeople saying that pay equity and equal pay will put 'a freeze on hiring' and are a concern for business.'

In a statement, ANZ said it had sought and received an assurance that BusinessNZ did not say pay equality and equal pay will put a freeze on hiring and are a concern for business.

'ANZ New Zealand has been a long-time supporter of pay equity and equal pay and supported Business New Zealand helping work on the recent legislation.'

In a statement, Spark said it written to Bartlett saying that it was working towards pay parity and accordingly 'we would not be comfortable or supportive of any campaign that sought to work against the principles of pay equity'.

However, BusinessNZ had told Spark 'they have never said that pay equity and equal pay will put a freeze on hiring and are a concern for business'.

None of the six companies have distanced themselves from the fix the bill campaign, or the statement by the EMA. However on Friday morning Spark said 'the moves we are making towards pay equity are not in any way putting a hold on our hiring or investment decisions'.

BARTLETT 'USED' BY UNION

BusinessNZ is clearly sensitive about Bartlett's letter writing campaign. Shortly after a member alerted it to the letter, the organisation wrote to its other members, warning that the letters may be part of a campaign.

'Given the political 'face' of the letter's author, this has the hallmarks of a wider campaign,' BusinessNZ's manager of employment relations policy Paul Mackay wrote. He offered to 'provide a set of key messages' to those who received the letters to respond to Bartlett's concerns to help their responses.

Kirk Hope, chief executive of BusinessNZ said the wording used by Bartlett mischaracterised the campaign. The claim that BusinessNZ did not support equal pay was 'utter nonsense', Hope said, because it was one of the organisations which helped the Government define the principles of pay equity used in legislation to enact pay equity settlements.

The reference to equal pay and pay equity in the EMA press release were concerns on 'figuring out how they [the Government] are going to do pay equity' Hope said, not the issues themselves.

'This is another example of the unions being probably quite concerned that there are legitimate concerns about some of the industrial relations changes,' Hope said.

'We've got no concerns about pay equity otherwise we wouldn't have been sitting around the table helping define the principles of the legislation.'

Hope said he believed the E tū union was behind the letters written by Bartlett, pointing out that the address Bartlett gave on her letters was a post office box used by the union.

Simon Moutter, chief executive of Spark, responded to Bartlett's letter saying it would not support any campaign that sought to work against the principles of pay equity, but it had been assured by BusinessNZ that the campaign was not the case.

'Effectively E tū have used her, and I think that's pretty disappointing,' Hope said.

'Kristine Bartlett hasn't written to a whole bunch of corporates off her own back on this issue, that would be my thought.

The 'fix the bill' campaign was about issues many small and medium sized business, and some large businesses were raising with its member groups, Hope said.

Hope said he had no issue with the way the EMA had handled the campaign, or the campaign in general.

But minutes after the story was published, Hope sought to distance himself from the references to pay equity and equal pay in the EMA statement.

'I think it was a mistake to include those terms in that way,' Hope said.

'I FIGHT MY OWN BATTLES'

A care worker since the early 1990s, Bartlett slowly rose to national prominence after in 2012 she agreed to front a legal challenge for equal pay against her employer, TerraNova Homes, being taken by the Service and Food Workers Union, which is now part of E tū.

After protracted legal battle, her case reset rest-home carers' pay based on what a similarly skilled man would earn in a male-dominated industry. Her hourly wage increased as a result from $16.23 to $23.50. Around 55,000 workers were affected by a $2 billion Government settlement.

Bartlett said she would be demanding an apology from Hope over his comments.

'I do not get used by anyone. I'm an adult and I can fight my own battles, as I have done for the last six years regarding equal pay,' adding that the views expressed in the letters were her own, genuinely held views.

A CTU employee assisting Bartlett said he did not know what to make of Hope's comments, which he believed misunderstood the nature of unions, which were a collection of people.

'I don't think you'd be able to say [the letter writing] was wholly her initiative,' the spokesman said.

'Kristine's involved because of her profile, but she's involved with lots of things the union does.'

E tū said it was 'not 'behind' the letters Kristine has sent'.

The fix the bill campaign, also being run by employer groups in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin claims the Employment Relations Amendment Act will 'undo many of the gains made in employment relations over the past few decades' and hurt business growth.

Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway has claimed the campaign is deliberately misleading and probably contributed to a fall in business confidence.

This story has been updated adding comment from E tū