Many sections of the New Zealand labour market operate as a low wage economy, where profits are based on driving down wages and conditions for workers, instead of being fuelled by innovation and growth.
Minimum standards regulations are set by government, with no input from the workers and employers who are to be bound by them.
Fair Pay Agreements allow workers and their unions, along with employers and their representatives, an unprecedented opportunity to bargain and set minimum employment standards in the industries and occupations where they work and operate.
The proposed Act provides mechanisms for identifying areas where bespoke minimum standards are needed and allows for these standards to be implemented in a targeted way.