Industrial Relations

Part A

1. The legal process of bargaining of employment agreement for IEAs and CEAs 

IEA agreement application on the medium-size manufacturing company

CEA agreement application on the medium-size manufacturing company

The parties Section 1 of the Individual Employment Agreement law says that the employment bargaining process for a medium-sized company starts with the agreement between two parties, such as employee and employer (govt.nz, 2021). The cloudy bay vineyard may benefit from implementing this law as it helps them make a strong agreement between their employee and employer. Position of employment The legal process of the IEA agreement explains in section 2 of the IEA regulation that bargaining for the employment of a medium-sized manufacturing company proceeds with defining the position of an employee in a medium manufacturing company like Cloudy bay vineyard. Creating contract templates The company Cloudy bay vineyards need to follow the bargaining law, such as creating a contract template that helps develop relations among employees and helps them implement wine manufacturing contracts (Unepdtu.org, 2020). Legislation and section Section 2.2 of the Individual Employment Agreement law illustrates the duties and job description legislation; the law speaks about having a clear description of duty attached to the employment agreement. The medium-sized manufacturing company, Cloudy bay vineyards, may provide a detailed description of the job and duties to their employees, which comes under employment law that helps the employees of medium manufacturing sectors to have a clear view of their job details and deputy schedule. Obligations of the Relationship Section 3 of the IEA agreement law describes that medium-sized manufacturing companies like Cloudy Bay vineyard may be required to clear the policies and obligations, regarding employment, to their employees. This law specifies the bargaining points such as reasonable skill development, employers' aspects, faith, relevant legalised obligations, etc., that help the employees to take practicable steps to perform their job (Govt.nz, 2021). Specify the nature and term of the agreement  Employment Relationship act 2000 explains the law of specification of the nature and term of the agreement, which contains the job commencing date and specifies the period of contract designed by a medium-sized manufacturing company (Employment.govt.nz, 2000). A medium-sized company, Cloudy bay vineyards, may follow this law and regulation by specifying the nature and term of the employment, which may surely develop the relationship between the employee and employer of the company. Collective bargaining The cloudy bay vineyard may follow the collective bargaining law under Employment Relations Act 2000, section 51, to employ a person for their company as mentioned in the employment relation regulation of the IEA agreement. This process provides an exclusive bargaining method to a medium-sized manufacturing company employee because the law provides offers like wages, the purpose of agreement, terms, and conditions with good faith. Through the use of collective bargaining law, the parties provide a written document to incorporate the agreement (Ieanea.org, 2021). Administration of employment security  Individual Employment Agreement law mentions the employment security system that administers the compensation system during unemployment (Ieanea.org, 2021). The medium manufacturing company cloudy bay vineyard may follow this law during the bargaining process with their employees, making them feel more secure during strikes and lockouts (Oil.org, 2021).

Perspective on the parties Confidential Employees Association (CEA) encourages the thought of collective bargaining during the selection of parties (Cea.nic, 2019). The collective bargaining process may encourage Cloudy Bay Vineyards to select their employees by selecting parties collectively.  Position of  non-permanent employees Section 1.3 of the 2019-2022 Confidential Employees Association (CEA) bargaining agreement helps the medium-sized manufacturing company recognise their need to employ a non-permanent employee (alaska.gov). The cloudy bay vineyard needs to follow the non-permanent employee law, to employ some employees non permanently with the implication of the same duty and same wages. Perspective on contract templates Section 1.2 of the 2019-2022 Confidential Employees Association (CEA) bargaining agreement describes its perspective on contract law by mentioning the negotiation law of bargaining in a confidential way that mentions the terms and conditions of an employee's employment (alaska.gov, ). The negotiable template law may help Cloudy bay vineyard’s employees to show their grievances in a confidential way. Perspective on the employment relationship The CEA talks about collective employment agreements that contain extra terms and conditions such as a change in the rate of wages, higher rate of pay, etc. (Global.website, 2020). Medium-sized manufacturing companies like cloudy bay vineyard may follow this law to apply more conditions to their employees during employment bargaining. Perspective on the term of the agreement Confidential Employees Association (CEA) says about an individual employment agreement for a medium-size manufacturing company in which the employees discuss and bargain about the terms and conditions of employment before they start their work by the individual employment law. Employees sign an agreement for the concerned company (Employment.govt.nz, 2019). The medium-sized manufacturing company, Cloudy bay vineyard, may depict the individual agreement law to keep valid proof of their agreement. Collective bargaining process by CEA CEA provides an extensive bargaining process that mentions the topic regarding hours, wages, tenure of employment, etc., in a written agreement under section 2. CEA follows three categories: illegal, mandatory, and voluntary employment (shrm.org, 2018). These categories help the medium manufacturing company like cloudy bay vineyard to make collective bargaining with their employees. Employment security system Confidential Employees Association (CEA) provides training to their employees and assures them by giving them some security policies like providing pandemic remuneration, allotting unemployment wages, etc. (Cea.nic, 2021). The cloudy bay vineyard may follow the security law to establish faith among their employees, and employees find them secure to work with the company.

Table 1: Differentiation between the legal process of bargaining within employment agreement of IEAs and CEAs

2. Issues regarding employment during Covid-19

The level 4 lockdown regarding the Covid-19 pandemic raised issues on the employment agreement process of medium-sized manufacturing companies, such as payment, wage subsidy for the agreed hour or days. There are major modifications within the employment agreement, IEA during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as the employees having permission to work from home. The flexible working hour arrangement is also another impact of Covid-19 that is illustrated according to IEA regulation (Pedauga, Sáez, & Delgado-Márquez, 2021).  Employees became insecure about their jobs, some of them lost their jobs, and some of them became deprived of their wages. Both the quality and the quantity of work went downwards; employees found it tough to manage their families. Many employers became unable to provide wages to their employees; thus, they lost hope and trust in their company. Manufacturing companies lessened their quantity of production, and product demand decreased. There are several other issues regarding employment during Covid-19, as mentioned below. The presence of governmental restriction within Covid-19 illustrates several modifications such as the Wage subsidy scheme, Covid-19 leave support scheme, and Covid-19 income relief payments (Pedauga, Sáez, & Delgado-Márquez, 2021). The application of such schemes helps in the employees work hours related changes within the Covid-19 period by application of the employment agreements IEA, CEA.  
Along with this agreement, the application of the CEA agreement has been modified with consideration of the Privacy rights, Quarantine related restrictions as per Article one of CEA based on the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act.  Workers of the small, medium and large manufacturing companies lost their jobs during the pandemic situation. On 25th March 2020, New Zealand went into the 4th level of lockdown; it was the strictest lockdown in the world (Fana, Pérez, & Fernández-Macías, 2020). The employees of New Zealand got diversely affected by the level 4 lockdown; nearly 44% of people lost their wages, job, and faith in the concerned company as the company became unable to provide the concerned wages to their employees (Kurmann, Lalé, & Ta, 2020).

Due to the pandemic Covid-19, new job opportunities have not been created by a medium-sized company like Cloudy Bay vineyard; as a result, unemployment became a great concern to the people. As per article two of the CEA agreement, the economic growth started to decline, and the employment market faced a huge devastating downfall. Employees who are with lower incomes lose their job permanently. Unemployment in New Zealand increased suddenly from 5.2% to 10.5% by the 3rd week of lockdown (Fletcher, Prickett & Chapple, 2021). People had difficulty earning their food and beverages, and everything got shut down except the emergency services like hospitals, groceries, milk, medicine, petrol, etc.

The government of New Zealand Started to follow the Employment Relations Act 2000 to legalise their employment policies; such legal actions are, they started to deal with good faith to their employees and try not to mislead the concerning employment parties. The companies assured that they must be communicative and responsive towards their employees during the four weeks of lockdown (Chinn et al. 2020). The medium-size manufacturing companies started to inform their employees before taking any decision about their unemployment (Pedauga, Sáez, & Delgado-Márquez, 2021). Being a medium-sized manufacturing company, Cloudy bay vineyard started to follow the basic rules of employment, such as informing the employees about their work, providing possible wages, maintaining faith among the workers, etc. The companies started to keep their agreement records in the form of writing.

The employer received the right to provide any change in working arrangements. During the Covid 19 pandemics, several changes were happening, so the employer of the medium-sized manufacturing sector like Cloudy Bay vineyard must be cooperative and have the adjustment power in any circumstances (Chinn et al. 2020). The New Zealand government developed their employment policies by implementing IEA agreement law and CEA law by providing a collective agreement method to their employees. The IEA agreement law helps manufacturing companies to provide unemployment security to their employees. CEA law enhances the employment system of medium-size manufacturing companies by providing a certain term of the employment relation.

It can be summarised that the medium-size manufacturing companies in New Zealand and their employees got affected by the hazardous impact Covid-19. The manufacturing companies followed the IEA and CEA laws of an agreement in their employment process (Levy, & Cohen-Louck, 2021). These laws help them develop a collective bargaining process, and it helps the employees implement the terms of employment. The company started to provide secure terms of employment, which enhances the faith among the employees towards their concerned company. Manufacturing companies started to provide an agreement on unemployment to secure their employees; they got security and satisfaction on behalf of the companies’ rules and regulations (Pedauga, Sáez, & Delgado-Márquez, 2021). Companies provide a clear view of the job duty, and they assure the agreement by providing a written concern letter.

Part B

Outline of Focused areas

A person who has agreed to work for payment, employed under a service contract, is regarded as an employee in New Zealand (Employment New Zealand, 2021a).  The job market in the New Zealand economy has been creating more jobs over the years, and it is expected that this creation of jobs will result in strong and steady economic growth (New Zealand Now, 2021). The New Zealand government's Ministry of Business, innovation, and employment predict that the average annual growth of the economy could be 2.7% over 2018-2023 (New Zealand Now, 2021a). An independent contractor in New Zealand refers to a person who is engaged in providing services under a contract by a principle of payment (Employment New Zealand, 2021b). Self-employed persons in New Zealand are sometimes considered independent contractors. When there is a dispute as to whether a person is an employee or independent contractor, had to face some legal issues such as customer dissatisfaction, worker compensation, workplace discrimination, intellectual properties, and copyright issues (New Zealand Now, 2021a).

The Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) system in the New Zealand Government refers to the industry-wise pay system, which includes minimum standards for both the employees and the employers in the industry. The FPA is aimed at sector-wide beginning to ensure decent work along with the minimum standard of pay for work (Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, 2021).

Current Legal Status of the Employees

All employees in New Zealand are protected under various employment laws. Some examples of employment laws are Employment Relation Act 2021, the Minimum Wage Act 1983, and The Holiday Act 2003 (Employment New Zealand, 2021b). According to the laws enjoyed by the employees, employment rights are the minimum wages, written employment agreement, leave, and holidays. However, independent contracts are not covered by employment-related laws. The rights of the contractors are based on civil laws. The civil laws determine the responsibilities of the contractors (Employment New Zealand, 2021b). However, the contractors and employees enjoy the rights to take personal grievances. The record of the employees are maintained by the employer or organisation such as wages, employment contract, time of working, etc., but the organisation is not bound to maintain and hold the records of contractors such as contractor agreement, working hours, etc. (Employment New Zealand, 2021b).

The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employees has announced the Fair Pay Agreement system in May 2021 (Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, 2021). The ministry has designed to resolve the issues that arose in the sector-level bargaining system.

Legislative Provisions between the employees and the independent contractor

The distinction between a contractor and an employee is a dynamic concept as the employment court of New Zealand's decisions are shaping the area over the years (Turnerhopkins.com, 2021). The employment court has given its decision in 2021, where the court has shaped the worker's status (Employment Court, 2021). In the case Pollak v C I Builders Ltd, an independent contractor challenged his work stands in the court, and the court has accepted his working status as a contractor. As per the Employment court, a contract that is signed between the firm and the individual does not define the real working status. The working status is defined by an organisation's control over the worker as, per section 3 of the Employment Act 2000 under section 2 (Legislation.govt, 2021).

In a courier driver case, the Employment Court has ruled for a courier driver at Parcel Express; an employee was classified as a contractor by the company (Turnerhopkins.com 2021). In the case, Leota v Parcel Express Ltd employment court had observed that the company itself controlled the driver. Hence, according to section 6 of the Employment Relation Act 2000 under section 6, Mr Leota's working status was accepted as an employee by the court (Employment court 2020). 
In December of the year 2020, the employment court had not considered the working status of an uber driver in New Zealand. However, the court's observation is that the supreme court of Australia and the United Kingdom had accepted the working status of the Uber driver as an employee (Turnerhopkins.com 2021). The employment court considered that the Uber driver had control over the mode of working and the working hours, so as per section 6 of the Employment Relation Act 2020,  the court has accepted that Uber drivers were contractors, not employees (The employment court, 2020). These effective discussions represent the application of legislation within a discussion of the regulation of employee vs. independent contractors.

Common law is referred to as the foreign court judgments, which are enforced on the action of the workers or employers in the jurisdiction of that court. The foreign employees and the workers in New Zealand enjoy various rights as an employee. However, they are under the jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts, particularly the Employment court, if there are any disputes of the employment terms (New Zealand Immigration, 2021). Some common laws of the New Zealand government are the Immigration Act 2009, the Immigration Amendment Act, section 2, Immigration Regulations, Immigration Advisers licensing Act 2007, Official information Act 1982, and Privacy Act 2020 (New Zealand Immigration, 2021). As per the court decision, the common-law doctrine imposes responses to the superiors as well as workmen's compensation level. On the other hand, the court decision implies master-servant relationships and historical background analysis with unemployment compensation purposes.

Legal models and developments for overseas involvement of contractors and economic workers

The government of New Zealand followed some legal models for overseas involvement of contractors and economic workers; such models are the Triangular employment model, independent contractor model and uber’s gig economy model.

The triangular employment model addresses the gap in the legislation of employees. This model decreases the ability of the employees to take personal grievances (Employment. Govt. 2019). The triangular employment model helps the employees to apply employers to control third-party personal grievances. Using the triangular employment model, the employers of New Zealand arranges employee’s placement with a third party.

Uber’s gig economy model is effective for gig economy workers. It connects a worker in need of a job with the customer who needs service. The gig workers model also includes unemployment insurance, overtime pay, collective bargaining for the workers of New Zealand (Alex Rosenblat, 2020). The independent contractor model shows that the entity provides services to another entity as a nonemployee and pays their social security. The entity does not require any employment benefits such as retirement account, health insurance, etc. The model classifies the employee and employer. The model helps employees to track every payment received by the client (knowledge.leglobal.org, 2021). New Zealand, as one of the fastest-growing employment sectors in the world, New Zealand offers lots of opportunities in the food services, retail sector, business sector, and construction (New Zealand Now, 2021a). The kind of jobs includes mining labourers, courier drivers, delivery drivers, and construction workers (The New Zealand Now, 2021a). The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment have given a statement that claims that the average growth of the New Zealand economy will be 2.7% and 2.5% over the periods of 2018-2023 and 2023-2028, respectively (The New Zealand Now, 2021a). Skilled employment and management strengthen economic growth and become one of the world's leading job-making economies. New Zealand is becoming one of the centres for the future workplace (New Zealand Now, 2021a).

The Fair Pay Agreement was designed based on various governmental bodies and the reports of the advisory bodies. The FPA design was made with the involvement of the Fair Pay Agreement Working Group, New Zealand Council of Trade Union and Business. However, it also included public consultation (Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, 2021). The summary of the proposed Fair Pay Agreement by the organisation is discussed below.

The Report of the Fair Pay Agreement- Working Group has suggested that the Fair Pay Agreement should focus on sector-based problems and its solution. The FPA should represent the opportunities for both the employees and the employers to gain from its activities. The FPA must focus on the fundamentals of the relationship between the employees and employers (Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, 2021).

The suggestion from the side of Business NZ refers to the complexities that the sector faces. The issues are related to wish initiation criteria, threshold criteria, disputes in the workplace and exemption (Businessnz.org.nz, 2021).

Based on the suggestion and the complexities highlighted by advisory bodies, the Ministry of Business, innovation, and Employment has designed the Fair Pay Agreement (Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, 2021). The application of this agreement helps in applying the Triangular employment model, independent contractor model, uber’s gig economy model, etc., for illustrating the relationship between gig workers and contractors.

Australian Fair work commission to identify the potential model for New Zealand

The New Zealand government has encouraged people from overseas to work in the country over the years. The New Zealand economy is continuously creating jobs searching for skilled labour in some particular jobs. The Fair Work Commission in Australia is a tribunal for the workplace relationship established under the Fair Work Act, 2009. The tribunal plays a crucial role to maintain a fair and productive workplace for employees and employers. Its role includes the minimum wage setting, approving enterprise agreements. The New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's introduction of the Fair Pay Agreements and planning for implementation is an effort to resolve low wage rates, inequalities in the workplace, disputes related to employment agreements. As one of the fastest-growing countries, New Zealand has taken a multi-dimensional effort to promote the country as the centre of the Future workplace. The Australian national tribunal for the workplace relationship can show a path to make a potential model of FPA for New Zealand. The process of how the Fair Work Commission deals with ensuring the fair and fair wages of the worker, New Zealand government, and its employee may use to condition for bargaining, minimum wages for the workers, and a decent standard of work.  The application of the FPA indicates the fair wages that are needed to be provided to the employees by each employer of an organisation as per the regulation of the New Zealand Government.

The model casual conversion clause examines the fair work commission of Australia. Using this model, an employee can request to its concerned employment team for part-time or full-time employment. The employee may reject or accept the request of the employee only after showing the genuine reason (Fwc.gov.au, 2018). As per section 11.6 Right to request casual conversion, the govt of New Zealand helps their employees to apply for the possession of their job such as part-time or full time.