this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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The Green Party has announced that it wants to increase annual leave to five weeks.

Co-leader Marama Davidson told a crowd at a E Tū election launch in Māngere today that it would provide organisations with plenty of notice and ensure the full five weeks is available for everyone by the end of 2025.

This wouldn't make NZ an unusual outlier globally, though perhaps it would be in this hemisphere - and that could be an attractive aspect as we continue to lose talent to Australia.

I'd like to see them carve out an exception for businesses that opt for a 32-hour 4-day week - either one works towards a better work-life balance and a 4-day week is a lot more personal days than just one week extra. Providing an exception for 4-day week businesses would avoid slowing uptake of the 4-day model for businesses that can make it work. The question is, how to balance the exception and leave changes for non-full-time employees?

Can NZ afford it? How many businesses are too fragile from the recent years of challenging operation. I suspect many can afford this, and that some have been pocketing the rewards of improved revenues in this inflationary environment without readily passing on those rewards. There could be more businesses struggling than we'd hope, that are too fragile from the challenges of recent years to wear the new costs.

Then again, maybe some negative impact is worthwhile for the improvement to the portion of the workforce that lacks the negotiating position to get such a deal - some executives and upper management certainly do enjoy such arrangements, including reduced days on massive salaries.

As an employee I like it.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Mate, if you're concerned about the cost of living you should be worried about National prepared to dump over $15 billion onto the housing market through tax cuts geared at the upper end, landlord incentives and reintroducing foreign buyers. At the same time they're wanting to put through other changes that will restrict new supply. Prices are going to absolutely explode again.

I honestly don't know how these types of changes track against the prevailing economic state, and it suspect it doesn't really matter - every rise to the minimum wage, every increase in entitlements gets the same response.

You could probably go check out the Parliament hansard records from 2007 when annual leave when from 3 weeks to 4 and find the exact same arguments.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Strawman arguement - you've created a new thing and argued against that.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I wasn't arguing? I was pointing out something to be concerned about if the concern is the cost of living crisis.

What I was arguing was that increases to worker conditions gets opposed by vested interests on the same grounds every time, regardless of what the economy is doing. See, here's former National MP Simon Power in Parliament in 2003 opposing the Holidays Act, which brought annual leave up from 3 weeks to the 4 we have now.

We will not support a bill that is harmful to both employers, and people struggling out there to make a dollar in business, and we will not support a bill that, in the long run, will be bad for workers. National will be voting against this bill.