Hon Michael Wood
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety
Improved working conditions for workers in the screen industry is now a reality with the Screen Industry Workers Bill passing its third reading today, announced Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood.
“It’s fantastic to see the Screen Industry Workers Bill progress through Parliament. The new Act will strengthen protections for workers who have been vulnerable for too long,” Michael Wood said.
“All people in New Zealand deserve good jobs, decent work conditions and fair compensation for their work. Through legislation like the Screen Industry Workers Bill and Fair Pay Agreements Bill, our Government is delivering better outcomes for workers and continuing to build New Zealand’s reputation as a great place to work.
“The new workplace relations regime will allow contractors in the screen industry to bargain collectively. It will also increase protections for workers in cases of bullying and harassment and set clear standards for contracts in the industry.
“The screen industry has significant cultural and economic value to Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s how we tell our authentic local stories and helps shape our identity. We’ve worked alongside industry during the development of the Bill to ensure the proposed regime improves workers’ rights while also reflecting the needs of the screen industry.
“The minor changes made to the Bill through the parliamentary process further enhances rights for screen production workers while maintaining the flexibility and certainty that the industry needs.
“Many workers like contracting, because it can allow high levels of flexibility and control. The Bill gets the balance right by allowing more protection for contractors in the industry,” Michael Wood said.
The Act comes into force 3 months after the date of Royal assent. For workers and companies who already have contracts in place, a transitional twelve month period is included.
Media contact: Travis Mills, 021 865 714
Notes to the editor:
- For more information on the Screen Industry Workers Bill visit the MBIE website.
- The main features of the Bill include:
- A requirement for all screen production workers to have written contracts which contain mandatory terms.
- A framework allowing occupation-wide collective contracts to be negotiated, which will set minimum terms for all contractors in those occupations. Bargaining will also be possible within productions or production companies.
- A tiered dispute resolution system to support parties to resolve issues that may arise during the course of a contractual relationship or collective bargaining.
- There were 207 submissions on the Bill from workers, producers, unions, guilds, producer organisations and other bodies in the screen industry. For the Education and Workforce Committee report see Parliament website.
· More detail on the key changes made by the Education and Workforce Committee:
· Adding freedom of association protections to more closely mirror those in the Employment Relations Act 2000.
· Adding procedural requirements when making and varying individual contracts.
· Extending the protection against retaliatory termination to:
o Workers who exercise their rights under any law, not just this Bill, and
o Workers who provide information in relation to someone else’s complaint about bullying, discrimination or harassment.
· Clarifying that bargaining fee clauses are prohibited in occupation-level collective contracts but may be included in enterprise contracts.
o Because occupation-level collective contracts will have universal coverage, it was considered unfair to require non-members within coverage to pay a bargaining fee.
o However, enterprise-level collective contracts only cover members, or non-members who actively choose to opt into coverage. Bargaining fees are therefore justifiable in the context of enterprise-level bargaining.
· Streamlining the process for applying for an exemption from the terms of an occupation-level collective contract.
