Govt moves to let bosses dock pay for ‘partial strikers’

Tuesday, 10 December 2024

Teachers who refuse to take voluntary sporting or cultural activities, or any union member ‘working to rule’ as part of industrial action, could lose up to 10% of their pay if new legislation introduced by the Coalition Government is passed.

On Monday night at 5pm, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden issued a statement saying a bill to allow for pay deductions in response to ‘partial strikes’ - or the refusal of extra duties - would be introduced. It was the latest in a drip feed of employment law roll backs van Velden has announced in the last few weeks, all aimed at strengthening the hand of employers in the workplace.

van Velden described working to rule and other ‘partial strike’ action as “intentionally causing disruption to customers or to the employer’s output” and said employers’ options to respond to it were limited. It was something she intended to fix.

Currently, if an employee is engaged in a partial strike as above - working to rule, or refusing to do certain parts of a job while still fulfilling their main duties - their employer cannot deduct pay, unless they suspend the employee or issue a lockout notice. A law change to disallow deductions for partial strikes was made in 2019 by the then-Labour-New Zealand First coalition Government, which believed it was unreasonable to financially penalise workers for refusing to do extra duties.

What van Velden is proposing is a change that would mean when industrial action is ongoing and workers refuse ‘extra duties’, employers could either reduce an employee’s pay by a proportionate amount, calculated by identifying the work that the employee would not be performing due to the strike, or deduct 10% of their wages.

Employers would have to provide written notification to employees that they will be reducing their pay before the deduction is made. A worker’s union could apply to the Employment Relations Authority if it disagrees with the calculation.

In her announcement, the minister listed various recent actions that had taken place when unions undertook partial strikes over stalled pay negotiations.

It included hospital-based MRI and nuclear medicine technologists who refused to work a few hours on strike days in August 2024, which van Velden claimed led to a reduction of 50% of scans and delays in early cancer treatment; train drivers in September, who ‘worked to rule’ and refused shift changes, “leading to disruption for travellers’; and rolling strikes by teachers in 2023 that saw secondary students rostered home year group-by year group.

Since mid-September 2024, New Zealand Defence Force Public Service Association union members have also been ‘working-to-rule’, and from November, have taken coordinated breaks and stopped working at heights or off-site.

van Velden said that “restoring employers’ ability to make pay deductions for partial strikes could help incentivise both parties to return to the bargaining table and reach agreement sooner, while also minimising community impacts.”

But others believe the ruling will have the opposite effect. The Post canvassed a few teachers late on Monday night about what might happen if the new rules are introduced One said that fewer teachers might sign up to do extra curricula activities, given they were likely to at some point be penalised for not doing them, despite their voluntary nature.

Another pointed to sector negotiations when the collective contract is up in June 2025 and likened the minister’s move to a “shot across the bow” and “opening hostilities”.

Labour’s workplace relations spokesperson Camila Belich, a trained employment lawyer, said from what she had seen it seemed likely the government would be able to dock the pay of workers simply refusing to do ‘extra duties’ as part of industrial action.

She said the Government was “now going to dock the pay of our nurses, teachers, police, firefighters and other essential workforces if they dare to ask for better pay and conditions.

“This announcement follows Finance Minister Nicola Willis claiming in Parliament recently that she thinks some of these professions are paid enough, and shouldn’t expect increases.”

“Everyone deserves to be paid fairly for the job they do, but particularly those who go above and beyond to look after us when we’re sick, teach our children, or respond if our house is being burgled or burnt down.”

A note: the following correction has been made to the article:

The article has been changed to reflect the fact Section 95A of the Bill excludes overtime from the permissible scenarios for making a pay deduction.

Hospital-based MRI and nuclear medicine technologists stopped for two hours on strike days - this, rather that stopping overtime, meant fewer scans were done on strike days.