January 18, 2016
The problem with Grant Robertson’s vision for workers in NZ
The problem with Grant Robertson's vision for workers in NZ
MARTYN BRADBURY
The Finance spokesperson for Labour, Grant Robertson, has done a lot of work recently on looking at the very nature of work.
The reality is that many jobs right now won't exist in a couple of decades time because of automation and technological advances and this reality requires a new way of thinking about our jobs.
Grant has come up with some great thinking on all of this and has based much of his thought on ideas he is hearing at the OECD's Future of Work Forum in Paris, in particular Denmark's 'flexisecurity' model. This sees workers paid a large benefit and retrained as their jobs become obsolete.
The only fly in Grant's ointment however is that Denmark has 75% of their workforce in Unions, where as NZ barely has 20%. This means Denmark can work with employers from a position of bargaining strength rather than the cut throat version we have in NZ.
Wanting to follow Denmark's flexisecurity model is great but we can't do it when our own work force has such poor worker rights. Maori in particular are vulnerable to these forces, so if Grant's ideas are to have real merit, he is going to have to be bolder on getting more workers under union protection otherwise 'flexisecurity' will end up being another tool employers use to lower the already weak position of workers in NZ.
Martyn Bradbury
Editor – TheDailyBlog.co.nz
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