I acknowledge there are perhaps some issues about small business and NGOs. There are also arguments about how redundancy could or should be funded, but in a members’ bill, it’s not possible to go into that kind of depth. However, with National Party support, we could a long way towards getting these questions resolved and implementing something which, after all, is pretty standard in most countries, except for NZ and the USA.

I’ve had interesting feedback about the nine day fortnight – one of the reasons many employers didn’t take up the easy option of just closing up shop was because of the costs of making longer term workers redundant – so in a way redundancy costs saved jobs, and provided an incentive to try to keep the business operating. But 53% of employers in a recent EMA survey said they used redundancy as a means of cost cutting and I have heard some horrific stories since I launched the campaign around this bill.

And just one other perspective : there’s been an increase in enquiries to the DOL call centre and cases in Mediation and the Employment Authority around redundancy rights. Most employers just want to know what they are up for and how to go about it. The lack of clarity about redundancy notice and compensation in law means having to face a disputes challenge at the worst time – and it probably costs a lot more.

Good on you TSmithfield –

And before anyone asks : I’ve had my own small business, and also was an employer of over 70 staff (and had to make some people redundant) so I do have some idea of the pressures involved.

It was an Australian union which urged the Rudd goverment to spend the surplus on paying workers in some industries to stay home for a day rather than handing out $900 to every taxpayer to spend on plasma tellys, acknowledging that employers simplky didn’t have the money to continue paying wages at the current level.

It’s that kind of acceptance of reality and abandonment of rhetoric that can lead to real, sustainable solutions.

http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?QueryName=251&QueryType=View&Lang=en

From a business perspective, I think it is a good idea to give staff some minimum protection. The reason we have is to make it more attractive for our employees to stay. We spend a lot of money training them, and want to retain them for as long as we can.

Maybe you should try running your own business sometime and employing people. When we were starting out we paid our staff better than we paid ourselves.

Now, even though a small business, we have tried to do what we can for staff if we ever have to lay them off. We give four weeks paid notice plus four weeks redundancy pay. This gives them two months to find another job. We would struggle to do too much more than that.

You’re implying that Labour doesn’t really believe in this otherwise they would have done it in their last term. It’s a stupid argument, but it’s the one you’re making.

I don’t think there is any chance that Darien’s bill will get made into law by this government so my supporting it or not will make no difference.

But for the record; some level of minimum redundancy built into law is a good idea.