BusinessNZ to represent employers in FPA negotiations 'on case by case basis'

Thursday, 17 November 2022

The Employers and Manufacturers Associations is expected to do most of the heavy lifting assist employers on behalf of the BusinessNZ network.

BusinessNZ has agreed to assist employers if they find themselves having to negotiate Fair Pay Agreements with unions.

Advocacy director Catherine Beard said if there was no other employer representative that was able and willing to take up the role of negotiating Fair Pay Agreements with unions, BusinessNZ would also consider stepping into that role on a “case by case basis”, in an apparent win for the Government.

The decision is likely to mean Fair Pay negotiations are less likely to end in stalemates that need to be settled by the Employment Relations Authority.

The Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA), which is part of the wider BusinessNZ network, expects to do most of the “heavy lifting” assisting employers, as it is the main centre of legal expertise within the group.

Workplace Relations Minister Michael Wood and National Party MP Scott Simpson clash over the Fair Pay Bill.

* Workers welcome lift in conditions due to Fair Pay Agreement

* BusinessNZ turns down key role in Fair Pay Agreements system

Fair Pay Agreements are designed to establish minimum pay and conditions for workers in different industries.

Council of Trade Unions adviser Emily Rosenthal expects hospitality, supermarket, and early childhood education workers, cleaners, security guards and bus drivers will be among those who may be ready to initiate negotiations as soon as the Fair Pay legislation takes effect on December 1.

BusinessNZ last year shunned the new collective bargaining regime by declining a Government offer that came with hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding to become the “default” representative for employers in Fair Pay negotiations.

Beard said that its announcement on Thursday did not mean it had agreed to be a “default negotiating party”, and that it would still not be taking the government funding on offer.

Commenting on whether that was nevertheless a “win” for the Government, Beard said its win came when the legislation was passed by Parliament.

The EMA said that it, BusinessNZ, Business Central, the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce and Business South would continue to oppose the “compulsory, centralised wage bargaining system”.

But EMA chief executive Brett O’Riley said it had to put the interests of its members first and “would now engage with the legislation in order to assist its business members”.

“With the Employment Relations Authority having the power to set the terms of an FPA if no employer is available, we feel we need to step back into this mess,” he said.

“The ERA consistently finds in favour of employees in more than 70% of hearings, so employers will have little faith in the ERA bargaining also from their corner.”