DOIA 2324 0539 Response letter to James 4 October 2023.pdf

4 October 2023

Ref: DOIA 2324-0539

James

By email: [FYI request #23533 email]

Tēnā koe James,

Thank you for your request on 19 July 2023 to Minister Sepuloni requesting, under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following information:

‘Any and all meeting minutes or internal papers from the Fair Pay Agreement Working
Group.’

You were advised of a timeframe extension on 9 August for an additional 35 working days due to the
large quantity of information in scope of the request and that several of the documents required
consultation. On 7 September, the request was transferred by the Minister to the Ministry of
Business, Innovation and Employment as the information was not held by Minister Sepuloni’s Office.
This was advised to you on 7 September.

We have identified 96 documents within scope of this request, noting that this is less than our initial
indication of 140 documents as many were duplicates. Please refer to the tables below that outline
the documents that have been released to you. We have grouped the documents in PDFs by putting
like documents together – for example, all the minutes in one Appendix PDF. The documents’ titles
are based on the Working Group meeting they were shared at, for example 2A, 2B, and 2C were
shared at the second meeting. Please note some information has been withheld under the Act, and
the reasons for this for each document have been listed in the table. I do not consider that the
withholding of this information is outweighed by public interest considerations in making the
information available.

Documents have been withheld and redacted under section 9(2)(ba)(i) to protect information which
is subject to an obligation of confidence where the making available of the information would likely
prejudice the future supply of similar information, or information from the same source, and it is in
the public interest that such information should continue to be supplied. Documents have also been
withheld and redacted under section 9(2)(g)(i) to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs
through the free and frank expression of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown or
members of an organisation or officers and employees of any public service agency or organisation
in the course of their duty. Further redactions have been made under section 9(2)(a) to protect the
privacy of natural persons.

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.

Nāku noa, nā

Beth Goodwin
Manager, Employment Relations Policy
Workplace Relations and Safety Policy Branch

Documents publicly available
Title
Public link
1A Supp (3/3) – Cabinet Paper
https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/3251-
improving-the-employment-relations-and-standards-
system-fair-pay-agreements-pdf
4A – Can the kiwi fly – Achieving productivity life-off
https://www.productivity.govt.nz/publications/nz-
in NZ
productivity/
5G – TSY Report – Increasing the Minimum Wage
https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2019-
05/oia-20190012.pdf
8C – Fair Pay Agreements – issues and challenges for a  https://medium.com/from-the-exosphere/fair-pay-
new wave of collective bargaining
agreements-issues-and-challenges-for-a-new-wave-of-
collective-bargaining-f5fe760a051e
9F – Hospitality Benchmark (Hospitality Industry
https://www.anz.co.nz/business/resources-
Report) (April 2018)
insights/business-insights/industries/food-and-
beverage/
9G – Raising the bar – the impact of minimum wage
https://www.westpac.co.nz/assets/Business/economic-
hikes (April 2018)
updates/2018/Bulletins/Raising-the-bar-April-2018.pdf

Documents released in full
Appendix #
Title
1
1 - Agenda
1
2 - Agenda
1
3 - Agenda
1
4 – Agenda
1
4E – Forward Agenda
1
5 – Agenda
1
5F – Forward agenda as of 28 August 2018
1
6 – Agenda
1
7 – Agenda
1
7F – Forward Agenda
1
8 – Agenda
1
8E – Action register
1
8F – Forward Agenda
1
9 – Agenda
1
10 – Agenda
1
11 – Agenda
1
12 – Agenda
2
2A – Minutes from 5 July 2018 meeting
2
3A – Minutes from 20 July 2018 meeting
2
4D - Minutes from 31 July 2018 meeting
2
5A – Minutes from 16 August 2018 meeting
2
6A – Minutes from 31 August 2018 meeting
2
7A – Minutes from meeting 6 – 13 September 2018 meeting
2
8A - Minutes from meeting 7 – 27 September 2018 meeting
2
9A - Minutes from meeting 8 – 11 October 2018 meeting
2
10A – Minutes from meeting 9 – 6 November 2018 meeting

2
12A – Minutes from meeting 11 – 27.11.18
2
12AA – Minutes from meeting 10 – 22.11.18
2
12AAA – Minutes from meeting 12 – 19.12.18
3
1D – Talking points for JB
3
2G - Talking points for JB
3
3E – Talking points for JB
3
4F – Suggested talking points for JB
3
5H – Suggested talking points for JB
3
8G – Suggested talking points for JB
3
10X – Talking points for JB
4
5E – Draft Panel report structure, including proposed problem definition and objectives
4
7D – Draft Working Group report in bullet form
4
10C – Draft Working Group report – version 0.5
4
10E – Draft Working Group report – version 0.6
4
11B – Draft Working Group report – version 0.7
4
12B – Draft Working Group report – version 0.8
4
12C – Draft Working Group report – version 0.9
5
10H – Photo options for the Working Group Report
5
11D – Revised photo options for the Working Group Report
6
4A Supp – Supplementary slideshow - Achieving productivity life-off in NZ
6
6C – Trends in collective bargaining
6
6D – Collective bargaining experiences across industries
6
9H – Effects on small business and the hospitality industry
7
1A – Background Information
7
1A Supp (1/3) – Labour and skills overview slides
7
1B – Draft work programme
7
1C – Fees and reimbursement for members
7
2B – Current labour market outcomes for firms and workers

7
2C – Collective bargaining landscape in New Zealand
7
2D – International Comparisons
7
2D Supp – Notes for international comparisons
7
2E – Country comparison tables
7
2F – Real minimum wage table (OECD)
7
3B – Potential objectives of a FPA systems
7
3C – Design questions to consider
7
3D – Research questions
7
4B - Productivity in collective bargaining - international comparisons
7
5B – Summary of OECD Employment Outlook 2017 and 2018 re CB
7
5C – Highlights of OECD Employment Outlook 2017 and 2018 re collective bargaining chapters
7
5D – FPA design choices slides
7
6B – Two possible models from a Fair Pay Agreements system
7
6E – Table from ILO (2018) re extension of collective agreements
7
6F – Training provisions extract from the Care and Support Worker Settlement
7
7B – Introduction to occupation and industry data summaries
7
7C – Occupation and industry data summaries
7
7E – Plan for item 3 small group session
7
8B – MBIE presentation on remaining building blocks
7
9B – updated FPA model – A+ B – version 2
7
9B – Updated FPA model – A+ B
7
9C – New Zealand’s international obligations
7
9E – Points for discussion on design features
7
10G – Information on education funding
7
11C – Diagram of dispute resolution

Documents released in part
Appendix #
Title
Summary of reasons for withholding material
2
12A – Minutes from meeting 11 –
S9(2)(ba)(i) to protect confidential information
27.11.18
S9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public
affairs through the free and frank expression of opinions
3
11X – Talking points for JB
S9(2)(ba)(i) to protect confidential information
S9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public
affairs through the free and frank expression of opinions
6
4C – E tū experience of MECAs
S9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public
affairs through the free and frank expression of opinions

7
1A supp (2/3) – 0747 17-18 Developing  S9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons
a Fair Pay Agreement System

Documents withheld
Title
Summary of reasons for withholding material
9D – Draft Working Group report – version
S9(2)(ba)(i) to protect confidential information
0.4 (tracked)
S9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs
through the free and frank expression of opinions
10B – Draft Working Group report – version
S9(2)(ba)(i) to protect confidential information
0.5 (tracked)
S9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs
through the free and frank expression of opinions
10D – Draft Working Group report – version
S9(2)(ba)(i) to protect confidential information
0.6 (tracked)
S9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs
through the free and frank expression of opinions
10F – Table to resolve Working Group
S9(2)(ba)(i) to protect confidential information
comments on draft report
S9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs
through the free and frank expression of opinions
10F(A) - Table to resolve Working Group
S9(2)(ba)(i) to protect confidential information
comments on draft report (with Kirk
comments added)
S9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs
through the free and frank expression of opinions
11A – Draft Working Group report – version
S9(2)(ba)(i) to protect confidential information
0.7 (tracked)
S9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs
through the free and frank expression of opinions
12C – Draft Working Group report – version
S9(2)(ba)(i) to protect confidential information
0.9 19.12.18 (tracked version)
S9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs
through the free and frank expression of opinions
8D – Proposed Fair Pay Agreement Design
S9(2)(ba)(i) to protect confidential information