Relevance of International Labour Convention in New Zealand - Essay Example

Running Head: RELEVANCE OF INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONVENTION IN NEWZELAND. RELEVANCE OF INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONVENTION IN NEW ZEALAND. Name Institution Date The New Zealand law dates back from the colonization periods of the 18th and 19th centuries. Before 1840, the Polynesians discovered and colonized New Zeland. The Mauri was the main culture. Abel Tasman was the first Dutch explorer to discover New Zealand and named it “Staten Landt” that means “land of the state’s General.” The British established their legal presence after the signing of the Waitangi treaty in the month of February of 1840 which forms the basis of the unique New Zealand legal system. The treaty involved the British and five hundred and forty Maori chiefs.1 The country attained full self governing of all internal matters in the year 1856. New Zeland is currently run by the National party with John Key as the Leader and Prime Minister since 2008.2 The industrial law and the minimum wage has been raised six times during Helen Clark’s reign. Other noticeable changes that her government will be remembered for include the introduction of 14 weeks paid parental and the support of the civil unions’ legal provision laws. Her leadership also maintained a nuclear free policy this made sure that no worker was exposed to hazardous effects caused by nuclear emissions.3 New Zealand’s constitution is not officially written. The national governments are elected every three years which constitutes the legislative, judicial and executive. Before any law takes effect, the royal assent who is the representative of the queen has to give consent. 1 A law is a deliberate action or decision made with maturity and after adequate and serene consultation; it is aimed at maintaining fairness and justice for the involved parties. (Marat, 1973). In New Zealand, the laws are formulated by the legislature and interpreted by the judiciary arm of government. In the past two decades the New Zealand labour laws have been changed with the aim of improving the economy, productivity and working environment. This includes the formulation of the employment relations act of that came into effect in 2000. The act outlines the minimum accepted remuneration package and how the employee is to be treated at work. The employee is expected to provide a safe and healthy working environment. The employer is also expected to build capacity of the employees as this is expected to enhance production rates. The employee has the obligation to relate well to other employees and not to treat them in contrary to the law. There must exist a written agreement between the employee and employer stating the terms and conditions of employment in order to avoid any dispute that might arise in relation to this. The minimum working age is assumed to 16 for any person eligible to work in New Zealand but there is no clear law that specifies this. It must be remembered that is among the first countries to enforce a minimum wage law in 1894 through the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. (Waltman, 2000) The minimum wage before tax for persons aged 16 and above $12.75 per hour which is set to rise to $10.40 in April of the year 2011. The country also has a law that sets the minimum pre tax training wage to be $10.20 per hour. Employees are entitled to have a break at meal time that differ depending on the type of work. The employees are also entitled to rest to attend to individual requirements. The employer and the employee are to agree on the duration for the rests and the employer should be reasonable by giving a realistic time to this. However, the employee is entitled to four paid weeks annually. There are eleven public holidays which the employee is entitled to rest and be paid for if they fall on a normal working day. In addition, the employee is entitled to a 5 day paid annual sick leave. The employee is entitled to a parental leave if he or she has worked for the employee for at least ten hours. The Employment aims at improving working through offering channels for grievances for employees, system for settling grievances and enhancing relationships at work. The act also deliberately outlines the role of the labor enforcement inspectors and the role of labor unions as well as offering of channels for communication in terms of collective bargaining. In the act, employers are lawfully bound to grant safe working environments. The system offers alternatives to seek redress for unsafe working conditions (Department of Labour). It identifies mediation as an appropriate channel for offering solutions to any employment disputes. No worker is to be laid off without a valid reason. The employees has alternative to seek redress if it is felt that his or her rights have been violated. The protected disclosure ACT 2000 protects individual workers seeking redress for wrong doing by their employees. (Needham, 2005). New Zealand has an established universal code of ethics that is relied on by the many countries and institutions that offer training on effective leadership. The act also pays key interest to confidentiality and as an ethical concern. Contracts given should clearly indicate the employee roles, relationships and discretion. It pays consideration to avoid any party from being unprotected. (Macmahon, 2002). Supervisor’s role includes support, mentoring and empowerment of the supervisees. The origin of the ILO dates back to 1919 when the Versailles treaty was signed by the League of Nations. It was formed to settle concerns of the rising social reforms by the end of the First World War. This followed the enlargement of goals and values that were effected in the Philadelphia declaration which anticipated growth and birth of large scale skilled partnership among developing countries. It became a specialized agency in 1946 and formed an association with the United Nation. It was recognized after it won the Nobel peace prize in 1969. It is built on the principle that social justice is the foundation for lasting peace. Its structure is unique in that the employees and employers have an equal say in shaping governing conditions and programs. It aims at promoting social dialogue among leaders in working organization, its employees and trade unions in the formulation on implementation strategies on issues that are aimed at improving the working conditions. The convention has its headquarters in Geneva and site offices in over 40 countries. It holds periodic meetings to discuss and assess progresses and address areas of concern. The strategic characteristics of the convention are; Formation of better and decent working opportunities for men and women. Create awareness and enhancing effectiveness of social protection for workers and employees. Collective disc ours. This is achieved through; Formulation and adoption of policies which aim at improving the working conditions and increase career opportunities that meet the international standards. Creation and adoption of international labour standards aimed at guiding member states in the implementation of the formulated policies. Formation of a partnership program aimed at helping in the effective implementation of the formulated policies by member states. To attain this, the convention is founded on four principles that are to diffuse the perceived notion of labor being a commodity through the realization of an environment that enhances dialogue and provision of a conducive working environment for all workers despite their race, creed and political affiliations. It also holds the view that poverty is a deterrent to development. The principle to have a working environment which values the freedom association for employees and employers and enhances collective bargaining was adopted in the 1998 Philadelphia declaration. (International Labour Organization) Despite having a robust labor laws employment act that are respected internationally there are some setbacks that require the relevance International Labor Organization to step in and supervise the implementations on part of some areas in their laws. It is evident that section 9 of the New Zealand employee act provides channels and mechanisms to be followed by the employers and employees in settling their grievances that are specific depending on the employment relationship and problem as defined by the laws. (Department of labour)The employees are advised to seek clarification of the issue from friends or family members who would on some cases give wrong information on the issue. It is the employees right to air personal grievances. This can either be settled in court or through the employing institutions. The system however favors the employees in that cases of no merit can be filtered and nullified easily and the costs of sustaining a reported grievance in court seem to rise making it impossible for affected employers. There is minimal follow up of employee conduct to determine solutions to reported cases. Many employers doubt the fairness of grievance resolution systems and are often reluctant to participate in the process. Most employees act in reference to previous experiences of their colleagues and friends and are always misinformed by the media which in most cases sways the situation to favor the employee. It is to this effect that the ILO follows up that the effective measures are put in place to raise level of awareness on the rights and the responsibilities of either party in a crisis resolution procedure to resolve the perceived myths on the issue. This includes the conformity in the establishment of a relations institution that includes the authority and the courts which is aimed at resolution of grievances through mediation and expert interventions. This will enhance employment associations by encouraging good faith and trust to the grievance resolution system. The process also aims at delaying process costs and delays by utilizing other low level processes of problem resolutions. The New Zeland employee employment act reserves powers given to labor inspectors to assess non compliance and give penalties for the same. There is great concern due to the growing needs of investigations that are stretching the government’s budget beyond its limits. The existing legislation gives no regulation on their role in modern diverse and changing working environment aimed at delivering high compliance standards and minimize on costs as much of their emphasis is given to enforcement of laws that meet the standards of the employee complaint vis-à-vis the employer. The role of the ILO is to ensure that the amended laws are implemented to attain effective and superior lucidity in the inspecting process and evaluate on the inspecting tools to be flexible and dynamic to meet the ever growing global needs. Based on the current New Zealand legislation, union representatives can gain access to the workplace sites on employee related purposes which are defined in the legislative act sections19-25. However, the officials are expected to perform their intended functions professionally. The ILO ensures that the conventions are not violated by the policy implementation. The rights of the employers to protect their firms to avoid interruptions in the daily functioning of the firms activities and in complying with the maintaining a conducive working environment for their employees by adherence to employee union rules. Under convention 87 which advocates for the right to freedom of association and protection and the protection of the right to organize and in convention 98 which calls for right to organize and collective bargaining (International Labour Organization) It is clear that there is need for the consent of the employer before access to any firm. This includes the right for such a reason not to be withheld on unreasonable terms or conditions. The conventions are aimed at increasing flexibility of choice and in decision making, improving performances, efficiency and value by employers and employees. Thus, resulting to enhance reductions in operation costs. (Department of Labour) The New Zealand law stipulates that no employer is to pay or offer remuneration packages based on the employees sex, race or disability. It further states that hiring and firing of employees should not be based on the same but rather given equally based on the roles and qualifications of the employees. The ILO convention under section 100 aims at maintaining an equal remuneration benefits for all workers of equal value despite their gender or race. This ensures that no one is discriminated against and a right model and grade of payment accordance of other benefits conforms to these standards. It is also evident that the convention abolishes forced labor and any form of use of compulsory for political intimidation or as a way of educating or as retribution for participation in strikes. Workers are free to air their grievances through strikes as long as they comply to the laws. Successive regimes in New Zeland have always paid greater emphasis to the plight of adult workers at the expense of child workers whose predicaments have always been overshadowed. It has been believed to children is an appropriate way of passage to adulthood. It has always been analyzed that the mistreatment and abuse of children only happens in third world countries and raises an assumption that children are always exploited and lack adequate protection ( Howse and Tebicock, 1996). The New Zeland law does not specify the exact minimum working age and wage for persons below the age of 16 as clearly indicated in the ILO convention 138. A clear an elaborate effort needs to be put in place to address the issues concerning the rights of children in the modern world. Of great concern is the health, safety and occupational fatality of many children working in small sized business enterprises in the fields of agriculture. (Vacturo et al. 2007). According to Mizen et al, Mizen, P., Pole, C., & Bolton, A. (2001). Children are always chosen for employees as they provide labor that is flexible, cheap and they lack a union to represent and air their grievances. They lack the bargaining power and often don’t have binding contracts as they are often not aware of its existence. Their employment is usually on a casual or temporary basis. Much of this is overlooked and furthermore, lack of data due to neglect of the area makes it hard to assess and have a clear number of children who are employed in New Zeland. Children who are injured at work always lack proper medical checkup due to limited workplace injury compensation for child workers.4 Most researchers show that child workers are often found in family managed businesses of horticulture and agriculture. Most of these children are advised not to report injury incidents to relevant authorities and more so if it involves the family. The ILO is relevant to in that it ensures that all employers do not discriminate employers through unfair recruitment and in offering of unfavorable working conditions. This is clearly illustrated in the convention 1958 which also insists on equality in offering access to employment opportunities and treatment. The convention protects the right of children to attain minimum age of schooling before being allowed to work. Any form of employment before this age is viewed as child abuse. Exemptions are given in cases of communal occupations and during disasters. The convention also makes it a must for the country to comply with the worst form of labor convention number 182. This includes forms of labor like; slavery and using children to illicitly perform an activity that will put his health and safety at risk. (Ashagrie, 1998) The ILO convention strictly advocates for gender equality in all working stations. It is evident that most women who meet the same academic and employee merits are not given equal tasks leave alone employment benefits as their male counterparts. It calls for the ILO convention to ensure deliberate measures are put in place to foresee the implementation and mainstreaming of gender policies as well as plans and ensuring that equal opportunities are given to women who still form a greater percentage of the ill paid workers in most developed countries. This include the conducting of awareness capacity building sessions that are meant to ensure that women attain a better bargaining muscle and raising their social fortification mainly in the sectors that are not official. The convention is also aiming at creating more employment for women through trainings in entrepreneurship. It is therefore evident that the ILO has relevance in New Zeland as an arm that is to put the government in check to ensure that the formulated conventions are implemented. In addition, the ILO convention should ensure that the labor laws formulated are able to protect the interest of the child. The convention should formulate laws that govern child related labor in family run businesses which are seen as the main areas where child abuse in relation to labor is highly witnessed. Bibliography. Marat, Paul. J: What is Law: Defining Law: 1973 Needham, A; Workplace Abuse: Roles of the Supervisor and the Supervisee. Journal of Social Work, Values and Ethics. 2009 Mizen, P., Pole, C., & Bolton, A. (2001). Hidden Hands: International Perspectives on Children’s Work and Labour. London: Routledge Palmer Howse, R., & Tebicock, M.J. (1996). The Fair Trade FreeTrade Debate: Trade, Labour and the Environment. , International Review of Law and Economics, 16, 6179. Ashagrie, K. (1998). Statistics on Child Labor and Hazardous Child Labor in Brief. Geneva: ILO Waltman, Jerold. "The Politics of the Minimum Wage." University of Illinois Press. 2000) Websites www.ers.dol.gov.nz: Department of Labor. Retrieved on the 8th of March 2011. http//www.ilo.org/communication: International Labor Organization. Retrieved on the 8th of March 2011 www.rmt.org.nz: Rail and Maritime Transport Union; Retrieved on the 8th of March 2011. www.nzhistory.net.nz: New Zealand History. Retrieved on the 8th March 2011. Read More