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10 July, 2008
New Zealand’s labour agency workers are hopefully on the road to have minimum wage protection soon. That follows passage of the second reading in Parliament in May of Labour Party MP Darien Fenton's Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill.
The bill is intended to give protection to agency workers by fixing an anomaly that allows them to be paid below the minimum wage for their services.
New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Secretary Carol Beaumont said that people doing contract work for less than minimum wage deserve the full wage protections that are afforded to other workers.
“There are people doing (agency) work right now who are paid poverty wages, and these people need the full protection of minimum wage laws,” she said.
“Most (agency workers) in New Zealand should be remunerated at well above the minimum wage. For those that are not, this bill would provide protection against being exploited by companies wanting to unreasonably drive down costs.
“Contracting practices are certainly widespread in industries such as acting, cleaning, and forestry,” she stated.
The bill has the support of the Labour Party, the Greens, and the Maori Party, with opposition coming from parliamentarians in NZ First and the National Party, which argue there is not a need for minimum wage protection. They also argue that the bill will create too many “compliance costs.”
After the second reading met passage, the bill now moved to a Select Committee. From there, it goes to the House for one more reading, before passed into law.