According to a 14 May article by Voxy.co.nz the New Zealand Government is being called to fix Part 6A in Labour law changes. ‘Any changes to the industrial relations laws must address the mess resulting from Part 6A in the Employment Relations Act 2000 says New Zealand’s leading privately owned cleaning and hygiene company CrestClean.’
“We support Prime Minister John Key’s comment that the government wanted “to make sure New Zealand had a ‘flexible’ Labour market,” said CrestClean’s managing director Grant McLauchlan.
“However we implore the Government and Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson to fix the problems created with Part 6A of the Employment Relations Act. It’s neither fair for employers or for employees,” said McLauchlan.
The article states that CrestClean recently wrote an open letter to Government outlining concerns with Part 6A to all MPs as it creates ‘vulnerable businesses by removing their ability to control their own workforce which limits productivity and innovation’.
“Part 6A requires that when CrestClean wins cleaning contracts due to a client’s unhappiness with their existing cleaners, we are required to take on the cleaner that has, in some cases, been one of the main reasons why the client wanted to change cleaning contracts in the first place”.
“CrestClean believes that companies should have the ability to decide who they employ or take on as contactors without being forced to accept employees of another company and another company’s employment conditions,” McLauchlan commented.
“With widespread support among the $1 billion cleaning industry for changes to Part 6A, the Government could repeal this part of the legislation which would be, in the words of John Key “very well received and highly successful,” said McLauchlan.