Workplaces: Parties take opposite sides on labour relations debate

National extended the 90-day trial for new workers to all businesses last year. Photo / Thinkstock

Industrial relations has emerged as an important political battlefield this election, as the major parties have lurched in opposite directions - National towards businesses and Labour towards workers.

Youth unemployment is also a constant theme in the campaign, given the unprecedented level of youth unemployment this year (23.4 per cent in the September quarter, compared with an overall unemployment rate of 6.6 per cent).

National is trying to frame the debate around how to help small- to medium-sized businesses while Labour says the most important issue is giving people a decent wage to live on.

National made a number of employer-friendly changes last year, including extending the 90-day trial for new workers to all businesses.

It is now proposing that new workers be able to sign up to individual agreements immediately, rather than having to take a union agreement for 30 days, and removing the 'duty to conclude' obligation for collective bargaining.

At the moment, employers and unions that have entered into negotiations have a duty to reach agreement unless there are genuine reasons not to. Removing this would be business-friendly but open to abuse if businesses wanted to stall negotiations or floor them completely.

Scrapping the 30-day rule could lead to a drop in union membership, as new workers may feel they are less likely to be hired if they insist on joining the union.

National would also review the rules around constructive dismissal and allow employers to dock the pay of staff who undertook partial strike action.

It believes its policies would make life easier for employers, leading to private sector growth and more jobs.

But National was given a rebuke by a survey of 1300 small to large businesses recently, where only about a third believed the Government had a sound economic plan.

Labour wants to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and introduce industry-wide standards as well as a new Workplace Commission to set these standards if employers and unions can't agree.

Agreements would only apply in industries where collective bargaining was already present.

It would not be a return to compulsory unionism as industry standards would apply to non-union workers and it would be more flexible than the awards system of the 1970s and 1980s because collective agreements could differ from - or even undercut - the industry standard.

Labour's policies would push up the bills for businesses but the party sees this as an incentive for businesses to focus more on innovation to drive productivity.

It faces a challenge to convince voters of that.

The Green Party is unlikely to push its workplace policies - preferring to concentrate on jobs, clean rivers and child poverty - but Act could make youth rates the subject of post-election talks.

Act believes that abolishing youth rates in 2008 priced young people out of the labour market.

A Department of Labour report last month found that scrapping youth rates effectively pushed up the minimum wage for those aged 16 and 17 by 28.2 per cent.

That increase lead to a 20 to 40 per cent fall in the proportion of employed 16- and 17-year-olds, or a loss of 4500 to 9000 mainly part-time jobs. But the report found the wage changes did not have any significant impact on youth unemployment as most affected students left the labour force to study.