The end of the Minimum Remuneration Bill

Last night Darien Fenton's Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill was finally voted down, all provisions having been stripped out at the Committee Stage. The bill would have closed a serious loophole in employment law, whereby unscrupulous employers can avoid paying the minimum wage by reclassifying their employees as "independent contractors". Such arrangements are widely used in the cleaning industry to pay wages as low as $4 an hour - less than a third of the current minimum wage. This is a gross violation of basic kiwi values of fairness. And by voting down the bill, National has made it clear that it thinks that abuse should continue. So much for "centrism"...