Government says it will 'incentivise' parties to negotiate at bargaining table
Employees who participate in partial strikes may soon see their wages reduced in a policy that the New Zealand government is reintroducing.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden announced on Monday that provisions allowing employers to deduct pay in response to partial strikes will be reinstated in the Employment Relations Act.
"Partial strikes are industrial actions that normally involve turning up to work but refusing to partake in key parts of the job. Often, it is the public who lose out or are caught in the middle when these partial strikes occur," van Velden said in a statement.
"Intentionally causing disruption to customers or to the employer's output is not only currently a permitted collective bargaining tactic, but employers' options to respond are limited."
Under the proposed policy, employers will be allowed to reduce a partial strike participant's pay by a proportionate amount, which is "calculated in accordance with a specified method that is based on identifying the work that the employee will not be performing due to the strike."
Alternatively, they may also deduct 10% of their wages.
"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," van Velden said.
"A large proportion of public sector collective agreements are expiring in the first half of next year. Introducing a bill this side of Christmas will set the stage for this Government continuing to deliver better public services in 2025."
The minister said they are reintroducing the wage deduction policy after pointing out the impact of partial strikes in the community.
"We have seen patients face delays to receiving medical scans and treatment due to increased waiting lists, kids missing out on education and parents missing out on work, and train passengers left waiting at platforms," she said.
"While I recognise the entitlement of employees to strike in support of their collective bargaining claims, the disruption to public and customer services that has resulted from partial strikes should not continue without consequence."
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) slammed the reintroduction of the policy as "bad lawmaking" and said it will allow intimidation of workers.
"Enabling pay deductions for partial strike action is bad lawmaking and will have the opposite effect of what the minister is claiming to achieve through this law change," said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting President Rachel Mackintosh in a statement.
According to Mackintosh, the policy introduces a "punitive response" to a legitimate industrial action and effectively tips the balance of power to employers.
"This legislation will lead to increased litigation, and prolonging bargaining and industrial action at the expense of both workers and employers," she said.
The pay deduction provisions add to the government's growing reforms to the Employment Relations Act. It recently announced that it also wants remedies removed for employees who are guilty of serious misconduct.
