Labour relations that are collectively based

After the 1990 election, the National government moved to deregulate the labour market and rid labour relations of unions. The Employment Contacts Act was backed by the Business Roundtable and moved labour relations from a collective framework to an individual relationship between employers and employees. That focus on the individual is still with us, despite Labour’s repeal in 2000.

A change back to the collective is inevitable. We should begin to prepare for that change with a focus on dispute resolution mechanisms. These are the mechanisms that guarantee the success of the policy choice between individual and collective approaches to labour relations.

Susan Robson is a retired lawyer who dealt mainly with dispute resolution in family and employment matters. She researched the dispute resolution systems of National's Employment Contracts Act and Labour’s Employment Relations Acts to compare how policies for each statute influenced labour relations outcomes. She also chaired several tribunals and was a member of the Employment Relations Authority.

John Ryall will chair the session. John left university to work in a car assembly plant where he began his career in the trade union movement. He has devoted his life to the collective power of working people – including negotiating a two billion dollar settlement for Care and Support Workers!