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Agricultural Workers Amendment Act 1985.

Main Region

First Region

New Zealand
Agriculture workers
1985-06-18
Law, Act

Second Region

The Act deals with workers' organisation membership clauses. As a basic principle, it provides that such clauses must be inserted in an award or agreement lodged with the Registrar for industrial relations; the clause will otherwise have no legal effect. The insertion, maintenance or reinstatement of such a clause must be supported by 50 per cent at least of the valid votes cast by the agricultural workers concerned. The statute details voting conditions and procedures. If all the necessary conditions are fulfilled and a certificate to that effect has been issued by the Registrar, a workers' organisation membership clause will be incorporated into all the relevant agreements or regulations and will remain in effect for three years; the clause will otherwise not be inserted, or be invalidated. The insertion or non-insertion of the clause remains subject to judicial review. A valid clause will put the workers under an obligation to join the representative organisation, as they will otherwise be liable to a fine, and the organisation under an obligation to accept their membership. By the same token, it puts the employer under an obligation to employ only workers who are members of the organisation; failure to do so will make him liable to a fine. The Act repeals and replaces sections 15A to 15L of the Agricultural Workers Act 1977 which was published in the Legislative Series (LS 1977 - NZ 1). (Note: this 1985 Amendment was repealed by the Agricultural Workers Amendment Act 1987 (No. 78).)

Related Text region

Serial region

    Serial title
    Printed separately
    Page range
    24 p.