New Zealand - Country baselines under the ILO Declaration Annual Review (2000-2008): Effective abolition of child labour (CL)

Involvement of Employers’ and Workers’ organizations in the reporting process

YES according to Government: Involvement of the Business New Zealand (BNZ) and New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) through communication of Government’s report.

OBSERVATIONS BY THE SOCIAL PARTNERS

Employers’ organizations

2008 AR: Observations by BNZ.

2007 AR: Observations by BNZ.

2006 AR: Observations by BNZ.

2005 AR: Observations by BNZ.

2004 AR: Observations by BNZ.

2003 AR: Observations by BNZ.

2002 AR: Observations by BNZ.

2001 AR: Observations by BNZ

2000 AR: Observations by BNZ.

Workers’ organizations

2008 AR: Observations by the NZCTU.

2007 AR: Observations by the NZCTU.

2006 AR: Observations by the NZCTU.

2005 AR: Observations by the NZCTU.

2004 AR: Observations by the NZCTU.

2003 AR: Observations by the NZCTU.

2002 AR: Observations by the NZCTU.

2001 AR: Observations by the NZCTU.

2000 AR: Observations by the NZCTU.

EFFORTS AND PROGRESS MADE IN REALIZING THE PRINCIPLE AND RIGHT

Ratification

New Zealand ratified in 2001 the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) (C.182). However, it has not ratified the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) (C.138).

Ratification intention

Under consideration for C.138. The Government is still in the process of assessing whether or not it can ratify C. 138.

2008 AR: According to the Government: New Zealand’s policy is to ratify Conventions once the law, policy and practice fully comply with the provisions of the Convention. New Zealand wishes to reiterate that the process of assessing the possibility of ratifying C. 138 includes an analysis of what legislative changes may be required with a view to ensuring full compliance with the provisions of this Convention.

According to BNZ: As in previous years, BNZ continues to oppose the ratification of C.138 because it doubts that the Committee of Experts will accept a de facto minimum age for full-time employment. In New Zealand there is a perception that might contrast with the Committee’s. As both the Government and BNZ have explained, the employment of younger persons has traditionally been considered to benefit young people by teaching them valuable work skills and increasingly, with both parents employed, by ensuring that children are looked after in at least some of their out of school hours through gainful employment. (While out of school care is provided in New Zealand, young teenagers often consider themselves to be beyond care of this kind.) There would appear to be little to be achieved by ratifying a Convention, which would then open up New Zealand to a pointless challenge.

According to the NZCTU: The NZCTU refers to New Zealand’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) with reservation regarding article 32.2 of this instrument, and also the recommendation by the CRC Committee that the Government revise the legislation and set the minimum age for employment. The NZCTU further cites child advocates’ opinion that the Government should review examples of child employment legislation from countries with similar culture, such as the United Kingdom, and the Australian states of Queensland and Victoria The NZCTU notes that although the Government has made some progress towards ratifying C.138, it has not yet developed draft legislation that would meet ILO standards for compliance.

2007 AR: According to the Government: New Zealand’s policy remains not to ratify any Convention unless law, policy and practice fully comply with the provisions of the Convention. New Zealand wishes to reiterate that it is still in the process of assessing whether or not it can ratify C.138. This process includes an analysis of what legislative changes may be required in order for New Zealand to be in full compliance with C.138. The New Zealand Department of Labour is developing a proposal describing possible reforms to New Zealand’s policy settings that might ensure full compliance of New Zealand law, practice and policy with the spirit of C.138. The Department will be working closely with the tripartite partners in the development of this proposal with the aim of achieving tripartite approval before the Governing Body meeting in November, which can then be discussed with ILO officials.

According to Business New Zealand: BNZ considers that New Zealand complies with C.138 by having a de facto minimum age, that is, a school leaving age of 16 that serves to prohibit the employment of children younger than 16 years during school hours. However, there is a perception that in order to comply with the Convention, the ILO requires an actual minimum and this perception is incompatible with BNZ’s view that employment at ages less than 16 can be beneficial for the young people concerned. Ratification on the ILO’s terms could not, therefore, be supported. Were ratification to occur, the absence of an actual age below which employment of any kind is prohibited would leave New Zealand open to a challenge of non-compliance with a ratified Convention. But providing for an actual age below which employment was not permissible would be contrary to a long-standing and accepted New Zealand practice of allowing a certain amount of out of school employment in the belief that acquiring early work experience is of considerable value to young people.

2006 AR: According to the Government: New Zealand policy is not to ratify a Convention unless law, policy and practice fully comply with the provisions of the Convention.

The NZCTU recommended ratification of C.138 by New Zealand.

2002-2005 ARs: The Government reported that it was assessing, in the context of reviewing its reservation to Article 32(2) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, whether a general minimum age would be the most appropriate protection against the exploitation of children in work. This work, once completed, would assist with determining whether New Zealand is able to ratify C.138.

Recognition of the principle and right (prospect(s), means of action, basic provisions)

Constitution

NIL

Policy, legislation and/or regulations

Legislation:

2008 AR: According to the Government: Relevant legislation adopted since 2006 includes the Education Amendment Act 2006. The National Student Number (NSN) was introduced into Part 30, section 341 of the Education Act 1989. This amendment provides additional security for monitoring the attendance and achievement of New Zealand students. The Government mentioned that as of 1 April 2007, under the Minimum Wage Act 1983, the adult minimum wage (for employees aged 18 years and over) is $11.25 per hour and the youth minimum wage (employees aged 16-17 years) is $9.00 per hour.

2006 AR: According to the Government: It passed into law the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2004.

2003 AR: According to the Government: New Zealand’s national legislation does not establish a general minimum age for admission to employment.

EFFORTS AND PROGRESS MADE IN REALIZING THE PRINCIPLE AND RIGHT

Recognition of the principle and right (prospect(s), means of action, basic legal provisions)

Basic legal provisions

(i) The Education Act 1989; (ii) Holidays Act 1981; (iii) Wages Protection Act 1983; (iv) Equal Pay Act 1972; (v) Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992; (vi) the Explosives Act 1957; (vii) Guardianship Act 1968; (viii) Children, Young Persons and their Families Act 1989; (ix) Summary Offences Act 1981; (x) Crimes Act 1961.

Judicial decisions

NIL

Exercise of the principle and right

Compulsory education

YES, the age of both boys and girls at the end of this period is 16 years (the Education Act 1989).

Minimum age

2008 AR: the NZCTU’s view is as follows: While noting that there is a strong cultural and community acceptance in New Zealand of part-time and casual employment for many young people, there is a need for legislation that would be both consistent with the aims of UNCRC and ILO Convention 138, but without unduly restricting the right of children and young people to earn their own money. The development of legislation restricting the employment of young people from 13 to 15 years to light work as described in Article 7 of the ILO Convention 138 Minimum Age, and setting the standard minimum age of employment at 16 years for other work would appear to meet these aims.

2000-2005 ARs: According to the Government: New Zealand’s national legislation does not establish a general minimum age for admission to employment. The Government does not believe that all forms of child employment are harmful. While restrictions exist on the employment of young persons (mainly in education and occupational safety and health legislation), there is a long-established practice of the employment of children in a range of work, including newspaper rounds and fruit picking.

The Government considers that the employment of children in this type of work is not harmful, and indeed is socially desirable, since it prepares them for independence and greater responsibility.

Worst Forms of Child Labour

C.182 is ratified.

Information/Data collection and dissemination

2008 AR: According to the NZCTU: There is a need for better information on the extent of children’s and young people’s participation in the labour force. Noting the BNZ suggestion that New Zealand’s current laws and practices are broadly compliant with C138 through restricting employment of young people to that which does not interfere with their schooling, the NZCTU calls for better data on the numbers and ages of young workers, and the quantum of hours they work, to verify whether this assumption is accurate. As a starting point, age coding could be combined with other information on tax databases for information about those young people whose tax payments on wages are deducted by employers. The NZCTU recommends that the Government collect data for young workers in one or two year bands rather than grouped into five yearly bands (For example, to collect data on how many eleven and twelve year old children; how many thirteen and fourteen year old children; and how many fifteen year old children.) and also collect information on the hours they work (e.g. per week) to create a more substantive information base. The NZCTU considers it difficult to assess whether New Zealand employment practice complies with C.138 or not, due to a lack of data on children under the age of 15 years in the workforce and the aggregation of workers aged 15 to 19 years.

2006 AR: According to the Government: The Department of Labour has recently tendered work to carry out a stock take on existing data collection methods. Data collection on child labour is covered by this project. The stock take will be completed next year and will be helpful to evaluate and improve data collection methods. The results of the exercise will be included in next year’s report.

2005 AR: According to the Government: The most recent survey in 2002 was taken from Auckland regional schools, and collected information on the rates of participation in work, rates of pay, nature of work, and extent of employment rights.

An analysis of the Christchurch Health and Development Study data show that working while still at school does not have any significant effect (detrimental or beneficial) on academic performance.

2002 AR: According to the Government: It undertakes surveys that provide statistical information on the extent and/or nature of child labour; the results of surveys are presented separately by sex and by age (15-19 years).

The Government undertook research into options for improving information on youth participation in the labour market.

2001 AR: According to the Government: A reporting process has been carried out in order to identify options for improving information on the working patterns of children under the age of 16 years, with a view to undertaking further study of the position of these children in the labour market.