An Employer Perspective: Employment Relations During and Beyond the 2017-2020 General Election

Abstract

The present government has presided over a number of changes to employment law and has committed to more, should it be returned to office in this year’s general election.   However, Covid-19 has cast a debilitating shadow over employment relations, in general, and is obscuring the effects of recent changes, at least for now. It is, therefore, harder to comment on whether or not the changes made, to date, have helped or hindered.  However, it is possible to look forward at some of the additional changes being proposed, and assess whether or not, particularly in the economic confines of the Covid-19 straitjacket, changes to holidays, pay equity, and collective bargaining will assist New Zealand’s return to prosperity. This article examines some of these issues through an employer lens.