A private member's bill that would require contractors to be paid no less than the minimum wage passed it first reading in Parliament tonight.
In the name of Labour MP David Parker the Minimum Wage (Contractor Remuneration) Amendment Bill squeaked in, 61 to 60, with the support of United Future leader Peter Dunne.
The bill sets out 14 areas to which it applies:
• building and construction services:
• cleaning services:
• courier services:
• food catering services:
• fast-food delivery services:
• newspaper or pamphlet delivery services to letterboxes:
• personal home-care support to an individual in the individual's house:
• public entertainment services as an actor, musician, or singer:
• the manufacture of clothing, footwear, or textiles:
• telemarketing services:
• market research services:
• licensed security guard services under the Private Security Personnel and Private
Investigators Act 2010:
• services in the forestry industry related to planting, pruning, or felling:
• truck-driving services delivering goods.
Mr Parker said if people are taken on as contractors and not employees, they are not entitled to minimum wage, holiday pay, sick pay or get ACC levies paid for them. His bill would address the pay, though not the others.
Many countries had a minimum rate of remuneration rather than a minimum wage because it was easy to get around it "and abuse the most vulnerable in society by not paying them fairly."
The bill has already been before a select committee. It was drafted by Mr Parker when he was a minister in the last Labour Government and it was pulled from the private members" ballot in the name of former colleague Darien Fenton. It had gone to a select committee and come out with improvements, in the form that he was re-presenting it to the House.
The bill was not aimed at kids doing milk runs or paper runs. It was aimed at adults who were "through the increasingly competitive and ruthless world that we live in, being abused by being paid by less than the minimum wage."
The bill will now be considered by the transport and industrial relations select committee.
Another bill, in the name of National MP Matt Doocey , requiring that anyone soliciting donations in a public place must disclose if they are being paid for performing that collection passed its first reading without dissent.
The Public Collections and Solicitations (Disclosure of Payment) Bill will be considered by the social services select committee.
A bill in the name of Labour's Napier MP, Stuart Nash was defeated, 60 to 61.
The Local Government Act 2002 (Greater Local Democracy) Amendment Bill would have reinstated the requirement of a poll and majority support in every district affected by a proposed re-organisation local government areas.