{"id":3538,"date":"2023-02-22T06:00:16","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T05:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni-europa.org\/?post_type=news&p=3538"},"modified":"2023-09-12T11:16:53","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T09:16:53","slug":"new-zealand-reinvents-sectoral-bargaining","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni-europa.org\/news\/new-zealand-reinvents-sectoral-bargaining\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand reinvents sectoral bargaining"},"content":{"rendered":"
While the EU member states are warming up to upgrade their social dialogue systems, at the other side of the globe things are moving fast. New Zealand just (re)introduced sectoral collective bargaining. If the EU is serious about safe-guarding the European social model, it should get moving.<\/p>\n
Last year, on 1 December 2022, a new law established sectoral collective bargaining in New Zealand. The so-called \u2018fair pay agreement legislation\u2019 aims to stop social dumping and negative wage competition. In too many sectors, competition focused on reducing costs rather than on doing things better. As a result, companies were incentivised to outcompete each other on reducing workers\u2019 wages and working conditions.<\/p>\n
Fair pay agreements in New Zealand<\/strong><\/p>\n Through sectoral bargaining, New Zealand wishes to reverse this vicious spiral. Minimum wage and working conditions put a floor under the competition and push companies to focus on doing better<\/em>, not cheaper.<\/em><\/p>\n As of 1 December, unions can apply to bargain for a specific sector and region. The organization has to prove it represents either 1000 employees from that sector, or 10% of the workers (with some exceptions). On acceptance, a union and employer council are established which will then bargain over wages and working conditions. The government takes an active supporting role through research, communication and mediation services.<\/p>\n Once an agreement has been reached, it will be ratified by a majority vote on both the employee and employer side. Once ratified and submitted, the agreements establishes sectoral standards. Lacking agreement, even after mediation, third party arbitration is envisaged.<\/p>\n The system is expected to run alongside existing practices of company level bargaining and coordinated bargaining in some highly organized sectors.<\/p>\n Nothing is impossible<\/strong><\/p>\n The radical move towards sectoral bargaining is remarkable as New Zealand is a country with relatively low levels of trade union organising and collective bargaining coverage (both 10-20%). The current system focuses exclusively on single-employer or company-level bargaining.<\/p>\n At the same time, historically, New Zealand had more coordinated<\/a> bargaining systems before the 80s when collective bargaining coverage peaked<\/a> around 85%. Yet in the 80s and 90s, the system was largely replaced by company level bargaining, resulting<\/a> in rising inequality, and low productivity growth.<\/p>\n The fair pay agreements, in the words of Camilla Belich<\/a> (MP for Labour) are \u201ca modern solution to a modern problem of low wages and low productivity a<\/em>nd is a further real and substantive step to the realisation of the dignity of workers and the recognition of working people’s huge contribution to our society\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n