The government tabled its Employment Relations (Meals and Rest Breaks) Amendment Bill in the House today. I’ve had a brief look at it and what it seems to do is :
- Remove the requirement for breaks to be half an hour for a meal break and ten minutes for a tea break and replace it with a requirement to “provide the employee with a reasonable opportunity during the employees work period for rest, refreshment and attending to personal matters”.
- Provide that the times and duration of the rest and meal breaks are by agreement.
- Provide for “compensatory measures” if the employer doesn’t provide rest breaks.
I’m not going to rush to judgement on this, but I am uneasy about any law that leaves things this wide open. Labour brought in this law for the workers who weren’t getting breaks at all and I can’t see anything in this amended bill that gives me any comfort that we won’t be reverting to the situation we had before the original bill. I am even more uneasy when I see that the bill has to receive consent by 30 December. That means more urgency and no chance for anyone to submit on the bill.
Let’s hope compensatory measures don’t include diapers.
Nats voted for this bill last year ! ! !
Any chance of a link to a copy?
@Rachel – Done!
Ta! So pleasing to see the resurrection of National’s favourite IR spin word: flexibility…..sigh……
You’re right to be concerned Darien. Just like the 90-day Fire-at-Will Bill they will say that there is no need to go to a Select Committee because we heard all the arguments last time.
However, as Trevor has pointed out, last time they voted for it.
Awful thing flexibility and choice. Compulsion and control are much better.
Flexibility and choice for who Gooner?
This Bill will further erode the power and rights of workers, particularly workers in poorly paid areas like retail and hospitality, and will place more control in the hands of bosses.
No opportunity for public submissions is appalling and undemocratic. Then again, who’s surprised? Like leopards, tories never change their spots.
Yet another poorly conceptualised bill attacking worker’s rights predictably framed using the language of the nouveau canon of “workplace productivity”. I agree with you Darien that the central tenets are so open for interpretation that they are in fact legally difficult to define. In particular how does one determine what is a “reasonable opportunity for rest, refreshment and attending to personal matters”? Five minutes, ten minutes, half an hour? Unless some key parameters are defined I suspect the real beneficiaries of this bill will be the legal profession.
I am rushing to judgement now I’ve absorbed the bill. It is poorly and hastily drafted and you could drive a truck through it. Just ask any union negotiator how they think the clauses in this bill would stand up to legal challenge.
I haven’t heard much about the 90 day ‘fire-at-will’ bill, has there been any negative outcomes reported?
WRT this breaks amendment bill I think it makes sense for certain professions. I understand air traffic control towers were actually having to close for periods so the controllers could have their compulsory breaks. A more flexible approach sounds reasonable.
@LabRat – the air traffic controllers have settled their meal breaks issue with the Airways Corporation. There was never an issue that couldn’t be resolved under the existing legislation and it has been.
Ah! It is so good to see N.Z. marching so resolutely backwards into the future under this NACT government. By the end of this term we should see sweatshops legislated back into existence and a debate over the need for the State to provide welfare or health care… ooops, that’s already happening.
From what I have seen few people working in small businesses take half hour breaks. Instead they still man their desk or take a quick 5-10 mins lunch in their work vehicle. This legislation will mean they can actually get paid for that ostensible lunch.
Seems surprising to me that an ex-unionist wouldn’t be totally supportive of anything that increases the worker’s dosh.
@Ross: How can 5 – 10 mins for a meal break be enough time? It sure isn’t enough time for me (I’m usually a slow eater).