Fair Pay Agreements – make your submission.

Hau Taki Haere | Tertiary Update Vol 26, No 6

"Our concern is that FPAs will result in higher wages" – Brett O’Riley, Employers and Manufacturers Association

Legislation introducing Fair Pay Agreements has passed its first reading in the House of Representatives and is now open for submissions to Parliament’s Education and Workforce Committee.

According to CTU President Richard Wagstaff, “Fair Pay Agreements are necessary to provide fair pay and conditions for many New Zealanders who are barely coping on current wages. They are working hard and getting nowhere.”

“Many of these New Zealanders in industries such as supermarkets and security and cleaning, were paid little more than the minimum wage while they have been putting the health, if not the lives of themselves and their families at risk, continuing to do their job during the COVID pandemic.”

“FPA’s are common in workforces around the rest of the world. For example, Australia has these and has a strong growing economy with higher wages, and higher productivity than New Zealand. “

“Fundamentally, FPAs are about putting in a minimum floor for wages and conditions. They prevent unscrupulous employers from forcing the costs of competition onto workers and their families.”

“Just as we have a minimum wage in New Zealand, Fair Pay Agreements will provide a statutory minimum. An FPA simply provides a minimum floor on core conditions to prevent the race to the bottom we currently experience.”

“The CTU believes that good employers across New Zealand will be looking forward to working positively with unions and employees on FPAs. They will drive productivity, sustainable economic growth, and will ensure that there is good work and great workplaces across the country,”

TEU supports this bill, although the majority of our members are already covered by strong collective agreements it’s crucial that all low paid workers in Aotearoa benefit from having Fair Pay Agreements that will make their lives better.

If you think Fair Pay Agreements will be good for the people close to you, it’s vital that you make a submission to balance out the voices of people like Brett O’Riley who think better wages and conditions for the lowest paid New Zealanders is cause for concern. You can lodge your submission here.

Submissions close on Thursday the 19th of May.

Also in this update:

• Learning from Amazon
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• Tina Smith on HealthCarePlus
• TEU elections on the horizon

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• TEU welcomes the first polytechnics to be fully integrated into Te Pūkenga – TEU
• University of Auckland experiences record enrolments, multi-million surplus – RNZ
• AUT's new Vice-Chancellor's vision for tertiary education – RNZ
• Goodbye to Dr Cat Pausé, the academic who fought to reduce fat stigma – NZ Herald
• Fatten your playlist with the Friend of Marilyn podcast – FOM