FOCUS ❐ MINIMUM WAGES ests being placed ahead of the national interest. As New Zealand’s largest earning export, dairy is big business in New Zealand. However, there is strong evidence that dairy farmers in New Zealand are breaching basic workers’ rights on a systemic basis. In early 2014, the government’s Labour Inspectorate found that 31 of 44 dairy farms inspected were breaching basic employment conditions . This is not surprising given earlier studies suggesting that fewer than 2 in 5 dairy farmers kept the required basic employment records such as wage and time logs. This poses a significant minimum wage compliance issue since in the busy season workers can often work 12-16 hour days, 11 or 12 days in a row. Given the low wages, isolation and very long hours it has become increasingly difficult to recruit New Zealand workers and there has been significant growth in foreign workers on New Zealand dairy farms (particularly Filipinos). Confronted by evidence of widespread lawbreaking by one of their key political constituencies and in the face of heavy lobbying (along with threats to casualise the dairying workforce) the New Zealand Government chose to weaken protections for workers. Previously, compliance with the minimum wage could be assessed on an hourly, daily or weekly basis depending on the contracts signed by the workers. A hastily drafted amendment to the Minimum Wage Order allowed assessment of the Minimum Wage over a fortnight for certain categories of workers (notably salaried workers). A longer assessment period allows employers to ‘credit’ higher payments in one week against lower payments in the next. For workers very near the minimum wage, this will almost certainly mean less pay overall. These changes make it easier for employers to make their workers undertake long hours. Along with proposed changes to remove guaranteed rest and meal breaks, they will lead to greater fatigue and more accidents. Ironically, the changes do not address the underlying issue of dairy farmers’ compliance with basic employment law. The NZCTU will continue to push for changes to the minimum wage fixing system to make it fairer, more transparent and less susceptible to lobbying. 1. The NZCTU makes a comprehensive submission on the Minimum Wage including a summary of relevant economic research each year. This is available on our website at www.union.org.nz Policy on the hoof: lobbying and minimum wage compliance in New Zealand A technical amendment to minimum wage laws may mean lower pay and longer hours for workers in the country’s largest earning export sector INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 18 Volume 21 Issue 2 2014 JEFF SISSONS is General Counsel with the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions - Te Kauae Kaimahi in Wellington and a Vice President of ICTUR N ew Zealand has a proud history in relation to the Minimum Wage. When a universal minimum wage for all sectors of the New Zealand economy in 1946, the adult minimum wage was as high as 83 percent of the average wage. In 1973, the minimum wage was 66 percent of the average wage. It dropped to as low as 27 percent in 1983, and after a significant increase to 49 percent in 1985 again was allowed to fall to below 39 percent during the 1990s. During the 2000s however it was raised significantly to approximately 50 percent of the average wage, and the lower youth minimum wage was abolished by giving young workers the same protection as adults. Studies showed that these very strong rises had no or little negative employment effect, and some positive effects. New Zealand’s unemployment rate reached a low in 2007 of 3.5 percent. However declining union and collective bargaining coverage mean that more and more workers are reliant on minimum statutory conditions . According to research published by the Center for Economic and Policy Research in November 2011 New Zealand suffered a drop of 53% in collective bargaining coverage between 1980-2010 (see Schmitt and Mitukiewicz Politics Matter: Changes in Unionisation Rates in Rich Countries, 1960-2010). Despite New Zealand’s relatively easy ride through the Global Financial Crisis, the right wing Government in power since 2008 has used economic conditions as a cover to weaken minimum...