The New Zealand Fair Pay Agreements (FPA) system has been developed to unite unions and employer associations within the hospitality sector to bargain for minimum employment terms for all covered employees – either in an industry, or an occupation.
MBIE approved the Union’s application on 29 May 2023, to begin Fair Pay Agreement bargaining for the hospitality industry. The next step is where hospitality employers (represented – by the Restaurant Association and other Associations) and hospitality employees (represented by the Union) will begin negotiations on what minimum terms will be included in an FPA.
Re: FPA01-001-2022 Hospitality Employee Nationwide Paid Meetings
Both the bargaining sides have now been formed to negotiate the Hospitality Fair Pay Agreement. For hospo employees the next step is to discuss and decide on a list of claims to put forward during bargaining. To allow this, the Fair Pay Agreement Act 2022 (Part 5, subpart 1) provides for one paid meeting of 2 hours.
This is a notice to employer representative associations of paid meetings in the following centres. Please pass this on to your members with hospitality employees:
- Whangarei – Mon, 2 October 2-4pm, 4-6pm
- North Shore – Sat, 30 September 2pm & 4pm
- Auckland Central Friday, 15 September 9.30am, 12pm and 2pm &
Friday, 13 October 6pm & 10pm - Auckland – Kingsland Thurs, 12 Oct 3pm & 7pm
- West Auckland – Friday, 6 October 2pm & 4pm
- East Auckland – Mon, 25 September 2.30pm & 4.30pm
- South Auckland – Friday, 22 September 4-6pm 6-8pm
- Hamilton – Friday, 6 October 10am, 2pm, 4pm & 6pm
- Tauranga/ Mt Maunganui – Sat, 30 September 4pm, 6pm
- Rotorua – Mon, 2 October 10am, 12noon & 2pm
- Napier- Friday, 6 October 10am & 12 noon & Sat, 7 October 10am & 12 noon
- Hastings- Mon, 9 October 4pm & 6pm
- Palmerston North- Friday 29 Sep 4pm & 6pm & Sat 30 Sep 2pm, Mon 2 Oct 10am & 12
- Wellington – Sat 23 Sept 10am & 2pm & Thurs 12 Oct 8pm and 10pm
- Lower Hutt – Friday, 22 Sept 4-6pm, 6-8pm
- Porirua – Mon, 25 Sept 2pm & 4pm
- Christchurch – Central : Friday, 29 Sept 11.30am & 1.30pm &
Riccarton Sat 30 Sep 10am, 12 noon & 2pm - Timaru – Mon, 2 October 10am, 12noon & 2pm
- Queenstown – Sat, 23 Sept 10am & 2pm & Mon, 25 Sept 4pm and 6pm
- Dunedin – Sat, 7 October 12 noon, 2pm & 4pm
- Invercargill – Mon, 9 October 1pm & 3pm
- Online (zoom)
- Weds, 27 Sept 1.15pm & 7.15pm
- Friday, 29 Sept 7.15pm
- Sunday, 1 Oct 2.15pm & 4.15pm
- Mon, 2 Oct 1.15pm
- Tues, 3 Oct 10.15 am & 4.15pm
- Thurs, 12 Oct 1.15 pm
There are over 60 separate meetings across Aōtearoa over the next few weeks, including online meetings (which may be an alternative for some employees to the above meetings). The details of all meetings can be downloaded here (PDF) or viewed on this hospofpa.nz page. If you have covered employees working within 15-20 minutes travel time of one of the meeting locations they should be released to attend one if they choose to.
The entitlement to attend one Fair Pay Agreement claims meeting sits with the worker. Your obligation is to allow them to attend one of this round of Fair Pay Agreement meetings. We are not asking you to shut your business during the meetings and we do not expect 100% of your employees will want to attend a Fair Pay Agreement meeting. Most of the meetings are held back to back so you can send some of your staff to the first meeting and some to the second on any day. Please speak to your staff in good faith and find a session that allows them to attend with a minimum of disruption to your business.
All covered employees are entitled to attend these paid meetings, whether or not they are members of a union. Employees attending a meeting should be “on ordinary pay to the extent that the employee would otherwise be working for the employer during the meeting.”
Please refer employees to this hospofpa.nz page or our facebook event page for more information and details about the meetings.
UPDATE: October 2023
Employee Contact information due 13th September
If you have already supplied us with covered employee contact information – thank you very much. If you have new employees please notify them of the FPA and provide their contact details as well (unless they fill in the form to opt out) .
As the approval of FPA bargaining was publicly notified on 20th June, contact details of employees should be supplied by Wednesday 13th September.
Contact details can be sent to employers@hospofpa.nz. All the information needed about this requirement (including templates to help provide the correct data) is available on this web page and the key documents for this process are as follows:
- the notice issued by the Chief Executive of MBIE to approve the application to initiate bargaining for the proposed FPA (https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/26662-fpa01-001-2022-public-notice-of-approval-hospitality-industry-pdf): and
- a statement for you to provide to each covered employee (https://hospofpa.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Hospo_FPA_employee_Unite_letterV2-.pdf); and
- the form approved and issued by the chief executive under s 284 which requires covered employers to provide employee contact details (or for the employee to opt out). This explains a covered employer’s obligations to provide contact details for each covered employee to the initiating union (https://www.employment.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/tools-and-resources/forms/fair-pay-agreements-employee-contact-details.pdf).
General Information about Fair Pay Agreements
MBIE has also produced a detailed explanation of FPA’s that can be downloaded here. An explanation of the types of hospitality employers and occupations covered is available at https://hospofpa.nz/fpa_coverage/. Coverage is fully defined in the Chief Executive’s notice.
Action required as of 20 June 2023
Here are your responsibilities as a hospitality business owner in regard to FPA legislation.
The timeline to complete these tasks is between July 11 and 20 2023. Unite Union have also emailed a notice out to most hospitality businesses outlining the next steps from their side.
Steps:
- Distribute Union Information to your employees: [Hospo_FPA_employee_Unite_letter]. Please note: This applies to Union and non-union employees.
- Share the FPA information sheet and contact details document with your employees: [Fair Pay Agreements and Employee Contact Details Document]. If employees do not want their details shared with the Union, they must opt out by completing a portion of the form and returning it to you. This will not exempt them from the FPA. Employees who opt-in should have their details sent to the Union.
- Send employee details to the Union: You should send this between July 11th and 20th, 2023 as required by the Act. Fair Pay Agreements Act 2022, covered employers are required to send Unite Union the contact details of covered employees in electronic format as soon as practicable, but between 20 and 30 working days after providing the employee statement to covered employees. Contact details can be sent to employers@hospofpa.nz
- Covered employers are also required to notify other unions if it employs their members. These unions are likely to be E tū (membership@etu.nz) or Raise the Bar Hospo Union (advocacy@raisethebar.net.nz)More information on the FPA process and obligations of covered employers is available at https://hospofpa.nz/employers/
- More information: MBIE has also produced a detailed explanation of FPA’s that can be downloaded here. An explanation of the types of hospitality employers and occupations covered is available at https://hospofpa.nz/fpa_coverage/ Coverage is fully defined in the Chief Executive’s notice.
- Further details: The new agreement will have to specify:
- minimum wage rates (including overtime rates, penalty rates, and when they apply)
- increases to those rates during the agreement (up to 5 years)
- standard hours for paid work
- training and development
- how much leave is available
- The bargaining parties will also have to discuss health and safety requirements, flexible working arrangements, and redundancy, but both sides can put forward proposals on other important issues as well – this is your opportunity to really improve the whole industry.
If you want to find out more now, then go online to hospofpa.nz/letsgo or on Facebook at Hospo Fair Pay Agreement.
You can also contact Unite Union by emailing workers@hospofpa.nz or freephone 08002UNITE (0800 286 483).