Employment
Almost all farms employ staff, either permanently or on a casual basis, making employment policy an important issue for members of Federated Farmers. Around a third of all calls to the Federation's 0800 advice service relate to employment matters.
Employment Relations Act
Federated Farmers believes that employment law should be fair and flexible for all. The Federation was concerned that the law prior to 2010 was not achieving an appropriate balance, with a strong perception of a bias against employers.
Because perception influences behaviour it had, in our view, become real. Federated Farmers urged the Government in its 2010 review of the Employment Relations Act to proceed with reforms to address this bias and to improve labour market flexibility. Federated Farmers believes changes, such as the 90 day trial for all new employees and adjustments to the personal grievance system, will assist in levelling the employment playing field by giving employers the confidence to take a chance and employ someone when they may not have done so in the past.
We do, however, believe there are additional changes that could be made, such as an extension to the 90 day trial period to 180 days.
Minimum Wage
Federated Farmers supports a statutory minimum wage rate to protect the most vulnerable workers, but the minimum wage should not be used as a tool to increase overall wage levels.
Sustainable increases in wage levels are only possible if there is an increase in productivity. Government should therefore refrain from further large increases in the minimum wage and consider whether to reintroduce a youth minimum wage. It should also focus on other
policies that would improve skills, improve incentives for work and improve the business environment. This approach would be more likely to enhance competitiveness and productivity and therefore the capacity of businesses to pay higher wages.
Holidays Act
The 2003 changes to the Holidays Act imposed significant compliance costs and increased wage costs. Federated Farmers therefore advocated strongly for many of the proposed changes in the 2010 Holidays Act review.
In particular we support employees' ability to request up to one week annual leave to be paid out. We
are also supportive of the clarification given to the transference of public holidays in the Act, as this was an issue that previously confused many employers. We also support the option to use average daily pay to calculate holiday pay.
Paid Parental Leave
Federated Farmers supports the current scheme for paid parental leave which is funded by the taxpayer and available to the self-employed as well as employees.
There have been suggestions the period for paid parental leave be increased from the current 14 weeks. The Federation's concern is large increases in the period could become costly for taxpayers and cause difficulties for small businesses.
Federated Farmers Wants
- Greater encouragement of young people, urban and rural alike, to consider careers in the primary sector,
including farming
- Recognition farming is a skilled occupation by education providers and policy makers
- Adequate funding for providers of agricultural education and training
- Financial support for leadership development in the rural sector
- Government to review within the next three years employment legislation, particularly the Employment Relations Act and the Holidays Act, to ensure that the recent changes are meeting the goals of reducing compliance costs and encouraging labour market fl exibility and productivity
Spokesperson
The Federation spokesperson for employment is David Rose. You can contact him on 03 235 2619 and 027 414 2573 or email him at drose@fedfarm.org.nz
