A Proposal for Four Key Reforms to New Zealand's Labour Law

Abstract

This paper proposes four key reforms intended to reinforce and support the fundamental values that should underlie any contemporary system of employment law. The reforms support and enhance the key objects of the Employment Relations Act 2000 stated in s 3 and specifically support and recognise sub-objects that recognise “(ii) the inherent inequality of power in employment relationships”, and those of “(iii) promoting collective bargaining” and “(iv) protecting the integrity of individual choice.” The proposals build on the positive changes to employment law made by the Employment Relations Act 2000 and in particular its pluralistic vision of labour relations including the broad statutory duty of good faith and the restoration of trade unions as the primary form of worker representation. They also are intended to promote, in the context of the twenty-first century, something of the pluralist vision that was the philosophical foundation of the arbitration system by promoting genuine pluralism and effective worker voice and to reassert that workers are not a commodity and are entitled to the full benefits and rights of citizens in a democratic country.