Employers are asked to sign the open letter to Govt, expressing their support for alternatives to Fair Pay Agreements. BusinessNZ’s Kirk Hope says it’s not right to force people into collective agreements against their will, and a smarter way would be to improve and strengthen the current wage bargaining system. And rather than a bureaucratic sector-wide approach under Fair Pay Agreements, a targeted approach limited to vulnerable sectors would be more appropriate, BusinessNZ says.

BusinessNZ has welcomed new R&D grants announced this week: an Innovation Trailblazer grant for significant business developments that could bring spill-over benefits to the wider economy, and a New to R&D grant to help businesses currently without R&D capabilities to access the existing R&D Tax Incentive. The grants will be worth $250 over 4 years, supplementing the R&D Tax Incentive which has allocated $118 million of grants supporting private sector investment in R&D of over $788 million to date.

Applications are open for employers to be accredited to hire workers from overseas.  Under the new Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme, an employer must gain accreditation, advertise a job within NZ for at least 2 weeks and show there are no suitable NZers available for the job before their prospective employee can apply for the visa. Minimum pay thresholds are required unless the role is on an exemption list.  Applications for migrant workers to apply for the visa open on 4 July.

BusinessNZ is arguing against regulating for compulsory recycling. Its submission to the Environment Ministry says voluntary industry-led schemes are more appropriate given NZ’s size and population density, and better pricing signals would help too. To encourage recycling, NZ needs transparent pricing and payment per amount collected, rather than rubbish collection bulk-funded out of general rates. Waste levy funds should be strictly used for waste minimisation, not general purposes, to ensure the levy doesn’t simply become a tax on waste without prompting more recycling, BusinessNZ says.