Activism, Feminism, Politics and Parliament

The changing face of public dispute resolution in New Zealand

“…The main architect of the ERA 2000, Minister of Labour, Margaret Wilson hoped that the legislation would enable the development of constructive and productive employment relationships and put an end to the overly legalistic strategies that were being pursued in the 1990s to resolve workplace conflict (Wilson, 2004(Wilson, , 2017(Wilson, , 2021. The concept of good faith was signalled in the ERA's object clause as the core guiding principle for the conduct of collective bargaining and dispute resolution (Anderson, 2011;Waldegrave et al, 2003).…”

“…When a Labour‐led Government came to power in 1999, the details of a new public policy regime for workplace conflict management were finalised. Even though it was met with considerable resistance from employer organizations and opposition parties, the new government pressed ahead and introduced the ERA 2000 (Wilson, 2021).…”

“…At the same time, employers have not eschewed legalistic processes to address workplace conflict. Research findings presented below suggest that paradoxically it is, to a large degree, employers themselves who have driven the trend toward legalism, despite the attempt to ‘de‐formalise’ dispute resolution under the ERA 2000 (Wilson, 2021).…”