Trends in Wage Bargaining in New Zealand: The 1988/9 Wage Round

Abstract

Abstract Changes to New Zealand's labour laws enacted by the Labour Government since 1984 have placed all New Zealand employers and workers, regardless of what sector of the economy they have traditionally operated in, under the bargaining provisions of the Labour Relations Act 1987. The authors analyse bargaining outcomes for the 1988/9 wage round, the second wage round since the implementation of the Act but the first to include freely negotiated settlements covering state employees. Some evidence of changed bargaining structures is cited but the rate of change is slow. However, bargaining outcomes are showing considerable change: wage increments have been kept below the rate of inflation, with settlements compressed around 4 percent; there has been increased flexibility in the types of wage settlement, with many settlements incorporating straight monetary increases compressing internal wage relativities; broad-banding of salaries and performance related pay has been widely introduced in the general pub...