18 Oct 2010

No benefit seen by business in CTU proposals

12:07 pm on 18 October 2010

Business New Zealand says it can't see any benefit to a law change proposed by the Council of Trade Unions.

The CTU wants union collective bargaining results to be extended to smaller businesses that often avoid bargaining.

It says for example that if unions are bargaining in major supermarket chains, the standards from those agreements can be extended to all food retailers.

Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly says he can't see any positives to this.

He says such a system would effectively mean all employers would be required to collectively bargain with unions, whether or not any of their employees are union members.

He sees the proposal as a return to the national awards of the 1970s.