ILO member states convene to address protections for gig economy workers
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden will be heading to Geneva this month for the International Labour Conference, where she will highlight the country's new "gateway test."
Van Velden said the conference, which takes place from 1 to 12 June, will be an important opportunity to highlight the country's newly passed labour reforms.
"I will discuss the gateway test introduced by this Government, which provides businesses and workers with greater certainty when entering into contract arrangements," said van Velden, who is also the country's internal affairs minister.
The "gateway test," part of the country's newly passed Employment Relations Amendment Bill, is a scheme aimed at clarifying whether an individual's employment status is a contractor or an employee.
The scheme has been welcomed by employers for introducing certainty in employment status, but has been opposed by unions that claim it empowers employers to misclassify staff and strip them of key entitlements.
Van Velden has maintained that New Zealand is creating conditions for "increasing business confidence" through the certainty provided by the gateway test.
"I look forward to promoting New Zealand's unique approach on the world stage, and I expect it will be of interest to other countries," she added.
International convention on gig workers
Among the agenda at the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) annual event are the final negotiations for the first-ever binding international convention covering gig economy workers.
It follows calls from Human Rights Watch (HRW) to address existing gaps in protecting gig workers, after the organisation's recent report documented that this group of workers suffer from long hours, unpredictable and declining pay, as well as serious safety risks.
"Platform companies have built a business model that sidesteps labor protections and shifts risks and costs onto the workers," HRW senior economic justice adviser Lena Simet said in May.
"The ILO negotiations are the first global effort to get governments to course correct and ensure that using this model does not come at the expense of workers' rights."
The International Labour Conference is expected to have around 4,000 attendees, including labour ministers and heads of state from the ILO's 187 member states.
