Inflexible, compulsory national awards are not the future of the workplace for employers or for employees says the Employers and Manufacturers Association.

"The fact the Government is pursuing these agreements in the face of contrary advice from officials within MBIE highlights they are a step back in industrial relations for New Zealand," says EMA CEO Brett O’Riley.

Mr O’Riley said it was widely agreed by employers, the union movement and even current government ministers that the future of work was an adaptable, fast-moving and flexible workplace.

"Why then would we go back to a system of central, inflexible regulation that removes the ability of individual employers to work with their own workforce in setting terms and conditions suitable to an individual workplace and removes the ability for individual employees to negotiate working arrangements that suit their circumstances?"

The MBIE paper also points out that the compulsory nature of negotiating these agreements may also breach international obligations around bargaining as set out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

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