National has support from all its partner parties in moving to clarify industrial relations laws within the film industry, Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee says.National is this afternoon pushing labour law amendments through Parliament under
National has support from all its partner parties in moving to clarify industrial relations laws within the film industry, Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee says.
National is this afternoon pushing labour law amendments through Parliament under urgency as part of a deal with Warner Bros to ensure the two Hobbit movies are filmed in New Zealand.
Mr Brownlee said the bill would clarify that people employed as contractors on film productions were contractors and couldn't use courts to change their status to employees.
Prime Minister John Key and ministers have spent the past two days in crisis meetings with studio representatives to convince them to keep filming in New Zealand -- something which looked shaky after actors' unions threatened industrial action over terms and conditions.
Warner Bros also pushed for a bigger tax break than the standard 15 percent for big movies, and requests for more sweeteners were partially met with a commitment by the Government to provide a $13 million marketing subsidy and an extra $20m tax break for the $630 million films.
Labour and the Greens have welcomed the fact the films will stay here, but expressed outrage that the Government had bowed to pressure from a business to have employment legislation changed.
The ACT Party and United Future supported the Government's moves, and Mr Brownlee said in Parliament today that the Maori Party had also come on board in support.
That gives the Government a clear voting majority of 69 to 53.
Mr Brownlee earlier told reporters the Government had been forced to offer more incentives than would have been the case "had there not been that dreadful seven week period of threat and industrial action".
PM wants more than a legislative win
Presumably for the sake of consensus, Prime Minister John Key has also reached out to the Maori Party on the issue.
Mr Key said he would also talk to Labour.
Clearly, the prime minister doesn't just want to win the vote - he's also trying to close down the "banana republic" debate by building a cross-party consensus.
However, aggressive comments by Labour's Trevor Mallard seem, for the time being, to mitigate against that outcome.
The Australian-based Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), and New Zealand Actors Equity (NZAE), which initially rattled the cage with its demands, withdrew before Warners representatives arrived here and gave an assurance there would not be industrial action during filming.
The unions avoided commenting on the stoush today, but said they welcomed the news a deal had been negotiated to keep the films here.
Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly said no one would begrudge the films being shot here, but that it was outrageous and unnecessary to change labour laws at the request of a foreign corporation.
She said unions had given an assurance to Warner Bros that there wouldn't be disruptions to filming, but that had been undermined by Mr Key.
