Following a two-week recess, MPs are set to engage in feisty debate about proposed labour laws that could raise wages through sector-wide collective bargaining.
This week in Parliament MPs are set to engage in fierce debate about proposed labour laws that could raise wages through sector-wide collective bargaining systems.
It's the second reading and then the committee stage of the Fair Pay Agreements Bill, which the Government's Leader of the House Chris Hipkins told us about and more.
MPs in the debating chamber
"It is designed to raise incomes for some low paid work where we see people effectively racing to the bottom in terms of their salaries. Fair Pay Agreements will mean that we can look across industry and make sure that we're paying people better. It's not unprecedented. In recent times we've seen forms of Fair Pay Agreements, if you like, reached on a more targeted, localised basis for example in the aged care sector where there was a settlement - you could argue that that was kind of a precursor to a Fair Pay Agreement because it's effectively set a floor for the industry in terms of what they could pay," Hipkins said.
The Fair Pay Agreements Bill is expected to generate an energetic debate during its second reading today and then again during its Committee Stage on Thursday morning during an extended sitting of Tuesday.
"It's a long bill, there's a number of parts to it. So I'll be putting to the Business Committee a proposal for how we might structure the debate, so that it can actually be a logical debate during the committee of the whole stage in the House. And I do expect that's going to take some time, there's going to be a lot of debate. My good friend and colleague Michael Wood (Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety) will be in the chair for that one."
Among other Government legislation relating to the workplace, the Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Bill is due to get its first reading. This is an omnibus bill which seeks to improve compliance and enforcement legislation to deter employers from exploiting migrant workers.
Michael Wood, the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety
Urgent Referral
Another Bill scheduled for first reading is the Climate Change Response (Extension of Penalty Transition for Forestry Activities with Low Volume Emissions Liabilities) Amendment Bill which extends the transition period provided for Emissions Trading Scheme participants with low-volume emissions liabilities related to forestry. On the Order Paper, its referral is listed as being "under urgency" or what Hipkins said he would describe as a technical urgency…