Submission to the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee, May 2008

Click here to download a printable version of this submission (MS Word 271k) [6]

Summary

The CTU strongly supports the re-establishment of rest and meal breaks in law in the main framework of employment relations – the Employment Relations Act (ERA).

Access to regular rest and meal breaks is a basic health, safety and well-being requirement. There is a need for certainty on rest and meal break periods and for these requirements to be explicit in minimum employment legislation for awareness and enforceability purposes.

Re-establishing rest and meal breaks in minimum employment law is part of rebuilding decent and basic employment rights legislation which was radically and deliberately destroyed by the Employment Contracts Act (ECA) 1991.

Submission to the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee, December 2007 

Click here to download a printable verision of the submission (PDF 202k [9])

Summary

The CTU supports the Public Transport Management Bill and believes it will help to achieve an integrated, safe, responsive and sustainable land transport system – as stated in the purpose of the Bill.

 In particular the CTU welcomes the proposals to allow regional councils to coordinate commercial and subsidised public transport services, advance the adoption of integrated ticketing and require greater investment in vehicles that meet emissions standards. The CTU also welcomes the greater statutory role for regional public transport plans and the opportunity that they present for greater input from the public on public transport policy.

However, the CTU is concerned that the matters that must be taken into account, and the consultation that must be done, before a regional council can adopt a regional public transport plan under this Bill, are deficient.

Download Te Huarahi mo nga Kaimahi here (PDF file, 515 kb) [13] 

Article by Paul Goulter, secretary, New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, published in Employment Today, May 2003.

It is reasonably well accepted that the pathway forward for New Zealand is a high value added export economy with high skills and high wages.