An Analysis of the New Zealand Labour Party's Employment Relations

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of the New Zealand Labour Party's employment relations policies. It begins with an introduction to the party's ideology and historical context, emphasizing its democratic socialist principles and commitment to workers' rights. The discussion section examines key policies such as raising the minimum wage, implementing Fair Pay Agreements, and establishing a Workplace Commission to address industry standards. The essay also covers the party's support for young entrepreneurs through grants and mentorship programs, as well as its extension of paid parental leave. The analysis incorporates insights from various scholarly sources to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Labour Party's approach to employment relations and its potential impact on the New Zealand workforce. The essay concludes by summarizing the main points and reiterating the party's commitment to creating a fair and equitable employment environment.

Running head: EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
Employment Relations
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The New Zealand Labour Party is one center-left party in New Zealand. The labour
party has dominated the New Zealand government and the party is considered to have
democratic socialism principles (New Zealand Labour Party, 2017). The party observes labour as
pragmatic one and it was formed in the year 1916. The president of the party is Nigel Haworth
and the General Secretary of the party is Andrew Kirton (New Zealand Labour Party, 2017). The
headquarters of the party is located at Wellington. The constituents of the pay include various
trade unions and the socialist parties of New Zealand. The concern aims to provide universal
rights to self-respect, dignity and different opportunities to work to the residents. The labour
party ensures that there is equal access to the different economic, social, political, cultural and
other factors so that there is equal distribution of wealth among the people of New Zealand (New
Zealand Labour Party, 2017).
This research essay would strive to analyze the political ideology of New Zealand Labour
Party and their key elements of the employment relations policy. There have been subsequent
changes in the labour dynamics of New Zealand which has impacted the overall employee
relations. Their various proposals regarding the employment relations would be discussed in
detail.
Discussion
According to Holt (2013), in the year 1936, there was compulsory trade unionism of the
New Zealand Labour Party and there was a subsequent change in the character as well as
structure of the body. There was provision of the individual membership through the affiliated
membership of the trade unions and through the local branches (Schulman, 2015). The growth of

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the labour party was due to the different sociological basis of the labour movements in various
parts of the world. New Zealand is a non-ideological country in which the ideology of the labour
party remains a constant affair (New Zealand Labour Party, 2017). The private correspondence
between the different party activists remains a reliable option (Kelsey, 2015).
The labour rights in the state of New Zealand are governed by the Employment Relations
Act 2000 formulated by the parliament of New Zealand (Rashbrooke, 2013). The New Zealand
Labour Party has formulated various policies for the betterment of the working population in
New Zealand. The labour would like to raise the minimum wage of the workers to $16.50 per
hour and the future salary hikes would be based on the real cost of living (which is actually based
on the people with low incomes) (New Zealand Labour Party, 2017). All the public sector
employees would be paid living wage of around $15m and this would also include the different
contractors. As argued by Bailey et al. (2015), the labour party has designated new workplace
relations package.
There would be introduction of the “Fair Pay Agreements” in which there is a basic, fair
employment condition, which is spread across the industry and that is based on the employment
standards of that particular industry. The policy also aims that the promotion of the living wage
by making payment to all the workers in the public service domain (Stringer et al., 2014). The
new policy of the labour party would mean a happy time for the employees. The historical
interventions prove that the statutory employment law has played a major role in the fair
treatment of the workers and ensuring that the freedom of association is being protected (New
Zealand Labour Party, 2017). The current law ensures that there is basic fairness provided to the
employees. However, the access to enforcement of employment rights is becoming harder since
each passing days.

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The New Zealand Labour Party also has policies of giving employment to 10,000 young
volunteers so that there is a significant improvement of the environment. As opined by James
(2015), the party aims to give job opportunities for the unemployed youths for duration of six
months and engage themselves in public work. This would help them to gain necessary work
experience as well as gain long-term employment (New Zealand Labour Party, 2017). There
would be various kinds of projects given such as community and environmental projects. The
mentors employed would assist in the work preparedness and training.
The New Zealand Labour Party strives to make a fair employment relation with not only
the employees but also help the young entrepreneurs to start their businesses in the country. As
stated by Mitrou et al. (2014), the “Young Entrepreneurs Policy” of the labour party aims to
allow the New Zealander citizens whose age is between 18 to 23 years to receive grants of
amount $20,000 to initiate their new business that can be based on a new business idea (New
Zealand Labour Party, 2017). However, Mason and Brown (2013) argue that the entrepreneurs
should have undergone a business training program that would be paid and have a business
mentor.
The political ideology of the New Zealand Labour Party was first based on a capitalist
notion. However, later with time, there was a shift of the policies towards a democratic one. As
stated by O'Brien and Kessler (2014), the labour party plans to make the multinational
organizations pay a fair share. The labour party aims to collect an extra amount of $200m every
year from the multinational companies who are in the process of avoiding tax obligations (New
Zealand Labour Party, 2017). The labour party has announced that those multinational
companies who are not eager to pay the fair share would be introduced to pay a profit tax. The

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tax authorities of the countries have the right to impose a tax penalty if they found the companies
have deliberately avoided the payment of taxes(New Zealand Labour Party, 2017).
The New Zealand Labour Party aims to appoint various union supervisors to formulate a
new Workplace Commission to address the various “Industry Standard Agreements” for several
industries (Rasmussen et al., 2016). This commission would ensure that the rights of the
employees are restored. This would also ensure that there is better scope for negotiations, which
also ensures that there are more recruitment of staffs (New Zealand Labour Party, 2017). The
employees who are outside the trade unions would be given relevant information about joining
any particular trade unions. The aim of the Work Commission is to change the nature of the work
and address the change related to the employment relations (New Zealand Labour Party, 2017).
The aim of the commission is to improve the direction, vision and policies for social and
economic program which would enable the citizens of New Zealand to change the nature of
work (New Zealand Labour Party, 2017). The Commission aims to change the nature of work in
terms of several parameters such as decent jobs, low unemployment rates, higher wages greater
security and highly skilled workers. It also aims to interview the various people regarding the
changing nature of work and how they feel about the changing labour conditions (New Zealand
Labour Party, 2017). The labour party also aims to provide professional career advice which is
integrated into the learning process. This would ensure that the students and the employee are
able to develop personalized career paths, which would help them to have a fulfilling career
(New Zealand Labour Party, 2017).
The Labour Party of New Zealand aims to give the children a better life from early
childhood and minimize the stress on the working parents (New Zealand Labour Party, 2017).
This is the reason they have set paid parental leave for the working population due to which they

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would be able to take care of their families in a better manner (Stratford, 2016). There has been
an extension in the parental leaves by the longevity as well as coverage. The employment polices
guaranteed a paid parental leave of 18 weeks, which has now been extended to 26 weeks. There
would be phased implementation of the policy from 22 weeks in 2018 to 26 weeks in the year
2020 (Dann, 2015). This policy would have great positive impacts on the child development as
well as enhancing the infant-parent attachment (New Zealand Labour Party, 2017). The labour
policy has decided this extended parental leave policy in accordance with the standards of World
Health Organization (WHO). WHO recommends a period of 26 weeks for exclusive
breastfeeding till the child attains six months of age (New Zealand Labour Party, 2017).
The labour party of New Zealand has also promised that there would be minimal
“surprise taxes” till the year 2020, which would improve its probabilities in the national election
campaigns (Laine, 2016). The labour party also aims to support free trade, which would enhance
the global protectionism. The labour party is concentrating on wide range of aspects such as
equality, growth, security, skills and technology.
Conclusion
New Zealand Labour Party was founded in the year 1916 and it has gone though many
social, political and economic transformation. There was compulsory trade unionism of the New
Zealand Labour Party and there were several individual membership policies. The labour rights
in the state of New Zealand are governed by the Employment Relations Act 2000. There has
been rise of minimum wage of the workers to $16.50 per hour. The introduction of Fair Pay
Agreements would ensure basic, fair employment condition across all the industries. New
Zealand Labour Party offered employment options to 10,000 young volunteers so that there is a

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significant improvement of the environment. The Young Entrepreneurs Policy permits New
Zealanders aged between 18 to 23 years to receive grants of amount $20,000 so that they can
start their new business. The labour party has also enforced the multinational organizations to
pay a fair share. The New Zealand Labour Party formulated new Workplace Commission to
address the various “Industry Standard Agreements” for different industries. The paid parental
leave for the working population for 26 weeks has benefitted many young couples. It is expected
that the New Zealand Labour Party would bring good and innovative policies for the employees
who would bring prosperity to the country.

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