New Zealand Employment Contracts Act

[Ellen Dannin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>]

     Symposium on the New Zealand Employment Contracts Act

The California Western International Law Journal is publishing a
special symposium issue that will explore the impact of the New
Zealand Employment Contracts Act of 1991 (ECA) on labor relations
both in New Zealand and abroad. The authors in the symposium
include a wide range of New Zealand employer representatives,
labor leaders, jurists, as well as leading New Zealand academics
in the fields of law, industrial relations, and economics. In
addition several articles by United States and Australian authors
provide an international perspective on the ECA.

The ECA has been the subject of international attention and
controversy. The following are some opinions on the ECA:

"If we pay attention to the experiment known as the ECA, we are
confronted with fundamental questions. How can and should work in
modern society be organised? Why do or should unions exist? How
must and should labour law be drafted?" - Ellen J. Dannin,
Working Free: The Origins and Impact of New Zealand's Employment
Contracts Act

"[The draft ECA] is designed to ensure that New Zealand has an
industrial system that will allow workers to enjoy genuine
increases in living standards and that will increase
productivity. It is designed to take New Zealand away from the
adversarial mentality of the nineteenth century" - National
Minister of Commerce Philip Burdon, Parliamentary Debates on the
ECA

"So, it comes down to what we want as a society. Do we want a
society that has a great spread of incomes so you have very poor
or very wealthy, or do we want a society which treats everybody
with some respect and dignity. And if we want to treat everybody
with some dignity, then I think the state has to intervene on
behalf of those who are less powerful and the most open to
exploitation, the most vulnerable in society." - Service Workers
Union National Secretary Rick Barker, first anniversary of the
ECA

Introduction by Ellen Dannin, California Western School of Law

Contributors:

Gordon Anderson     Business School, Victoria University of
                    Wellington
Anne Boyd           New Zealand Council of Trade Unions
Brian Easton        Economic And Social Trust On New Zealand
Richard Epstein     University of Chicago Law School
Maxine Gay          New Zealand Trade Union Federation 
 & Malcolm MacLean  University of Queensland / New Zealand Trade
                    Union Federation
Clive Gilson        Department of Strategic Leadership and    
                    Management, University of Waikato
  & Terry Wagar     Wilfred Laurier University
Thomas Goddard      New Zealand Employment Court
Raymond Harbridge   Graduate School of Business and Government
                    Management, Victoria University of Wellington
  & Aaron Crawford  Graduate School of Business and Government
                    Management, Victoria University of Wellington
John Hughes         Department of Law, University of Canterbury
Jane Kelsey         Department of Law, University of Auckland
Roger Kerr          New Zealand Business Roundtable
Anne Knowles        New Zealand Employers' Federation
Andrew Morriss      School of Law and Department of Economics,
                    Case Western Reserve University
Erling Rasmussen    Department of Management Studies and Labour
                    Relations, University of Auckland
  & John Deeks      Department of Management Studies and Labour
                    Relations, University of Auckland
Chester Spell       Department of Strategic Leadership and
                    Management,University of Waikato
Nick Wailes         Department of Industrial Relations,
                    University of Sydney, Australia

If you would like to order copies of the Symposium issue on the
Employment Contracts Act you may do so by either subscribing to
the Journal or purchasing the single volume.

The California Western Law Review and International Law Journal
are published twice a year by the California Western School of
Law. Annual subscriptions are $20.00 per volume. Foreign
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