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A week in advocacy 

Govt response to business - coronavirus

BusinessNZ met with PM and key Ministers this week, requesting business support payments in regions most affected by coronavirus risk (similar to wage subsidies after the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes).  The Finance Minister has not ruled out the possibility of such support payments.  BusinessNZ also asked for grace time for provisional tax payments, and for govt agencies to speed up  paying small businesses to help their cashflow problems.

 

Kiwi takes key WTO role 

David Walker has been appointed chair of the World Trade Organisation’s dispute settlement body.  Mr Walker is currently NZ’s Permanent Representative to the WTO following roles as chair and negotiator in the WTO Doha Round seeking better access for NZ’s agricultural exports.  As chair of the dispute settlement body he will be taking on the WTO’s most challenging role, given its current impasse over selection of appellant judges, due to the US withholding support for new appointments until the WTO is reformed to its liking.

 

Lack of clarity on vocational changes 

BusinessNZ says changes to vocational education are proceeding without a clear plan for industry involvement or performance monitoring.  Legislation was passed last month setting up the NZ Institute of Skills & Technology, but doesn't contain effective mechanisms to let industry and employers influence the training.  Now the Education & Training Bill, currently going through Select Committee, is proceeding without a clear plan for performance monitoring or funding changes in vocational training.  The new Institute will be established on 1 April and vocational education enters a 2 year transition period to the new structure.

Film and TV contractors - the future

NZ’s screen industry is getting new employment law.  The ‘Hobbit’ law (that let TV and film workers remain contractors) is being amended by the Screen Industry Workers Bill, which would retain contractor status and also allow collective bargaining, an unusual combination in employment law, but something that reflects existing practice in NZ.  The Bill allows sector-wide collective contracts - a source of tension in other industries, as they can aid sector-wide strikes.  But in NZ the ability to agree terms and conditions across a scattered, contractor-based industry is seen as valuable by both industry bosses and workers.  The Bill bans industrial action, requiring arbitration instead.

Contractor or employee?

The status of contractors more generally is also under review by Parliament.  It’s proposed that contractors in some industries should be deemed employees instead, on the basis that some may really be employees misclassified as contractors and may be  missing out on employee benefits.  BusinessNZ says there are already legal remedies for misclassification which should be used, rather than legislatively changing the status of whole groups of contractors.  It says the proposal could blur the important distinction between employees and contractors and diminish the business benefits of contracting. 

Contractors vs employees - the California experience

California shows how turning contractors into employees is a bad move.  Last year California passed a law ('AB-5') requiring firms to hire permanent employees instead of using contractors.  Like the proposal in NZ, the AB-5 law was promoted as a protection against misclassified employees.  The AB-5 law has caused chaos in California’s creative industries and others such as trucking and ride-sharing.  The law is now being challenged by over 30 affected industries, while ride-sharing and other businesses are changing their operations to evade being caught by the law.

Farmers want different metrics 

NZ farmers have joined with their UK counterparts in calling for a better way of measuring greenhouse gases.  Federated Farmers, Beef + Lamb NZ and the Meat Industry Association have joined UK farmer groups in asking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to examine how much short-lived greenhouse gases (methane) contribute to global warming.  The farmers want better measurement of methane’s contribution to global warming than the current metrics which are more focused on long-lived (carbon) emissions.

 

Capital Matters

Top minds in business come together at the Capital Matters conference: speakers from BusinessNZ, NZX, and Reserve Bank, experts on capital raising and digital strategies, media session with Grant Walker, and panel on politics - book now for Capital Matters, QT Hotel, Wellington, 12 March.

 

Business Update is a weekly update of activity and advocacy by the BusinessNZ Network

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