CTU Submission on the Employment Relations (Meal Breaks and Infant Feeding) Amendment Bill

Submission to the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee, May 2008

Click here to download a printable version of this submission (MS Word 271k)

Summary

The CTU strongly supports the re-establishment of rest and meal breaks in law in the main framework of employment relations – the Employment Relations Act (ERA).

Access to regular rest and meal breaks is a basic health, safety and well-being requirement. There is a need for certainty on rest and meal break periods and for these requirements to be explicit in minimum employment legislation for awareness and enforceability purposes.

Re-establishing rest and meal breaks in minimum employment law is part of rebuilding decent and basic employment rights legislation which was radically and deliberately destroyed by the Employment Contracts Act (ECA) 1991.

Provisions stipulating that employers provide facilities and rest breaks for women workers who are breastfeeding are an appropriate response to the changed workforce participation of women, employment and economic realities and the increasing evidence of the health, employment and social benefits from breast feeding. Legislative provisions are required if New Zealand is to meet breastfeeding targets. These provisions are particularly important for low-wage workers and women not employed in professional occupations.

The provision of breaks for employees who breastfeed brings us into line with provisions on employment and breastfeeding in most others countries. According to the Project on Global Working Families and the Institute for Health and Social Policy, at least 107 countries protect working women’s right to breastfeed; in at least 73 of these countries the breaks are paid

While The CTU strongly supports this Bill with some changes are suggested :

• That paid rest breaks are fifteen minutes
• For any worker working more than 8 hours there is an entitlement for another meal break within 5 hours of the first meal break
• That enhanced provisions for rest and meal breaks negotiated into collective agreements can not be undermined by legislation which provides for minimum standards of rest and meal breaks
• Workers who are working more than a four shift but less than a five and a half hour shift are able to take their unpaid meal break at the end of their shift, rather than part-way through their shift ( to avoid extension of the working day)
• That breaks provided for employees who are breastfeeding are considered as worked time and remunerated accordingly
• That the time needed for nursing breaks can be combined to allow for a reduction of hours at the beginning or end of the day
• That the code of practice regarding breastfeeding to be developed after the passing of the Bill includes advice for employees on how to access their rights.

The accompanying media release is here: Work rights would be enhanced by meal and breastfeeding breaks