Commentary: unions and the evolution of trade and industry policy under the ardern government

ABSTRACT

New Zealand’s structural development has been dominated for the last generation by a strongly neoliberal, market-focused orientation. The country has signed several neoliberal free trade agreements, and for long periods largely abandoned active or strategic industry policy. It has seen the steady decline of manufacturing as a proportion of total production and of higher value manufacturing as a proportion of exports, and failed to significantly diversify its exports, retaining high dependence on a few primary commodity exports. Productivity performance has been notably poor. The Labour-led government elected in 2017 has demonstrated its willingness to at least partly break with neoliberal precepts in other policy areas; this commentary surveys its approach to date in industrial and trade policy reforms, and the role of unions in these developments. There are initial promising steps but the free trade agreements place significant restraints on what is possible.

KEYWORDS:

• Unionism
• tripartism
• industry policy
• neoliberalism
• trade policy
• New Zealand

Disclosure statement

I am an employee of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi (NZCTU) and a representative of the NZCTU on the Future of Work Tripartite Forum.

Notes

1. See https://www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/economic-development/just-transition/

2. See https://www.mbie.govt.nz/immigration-and-tourism/tourism/tourism-recovery/tourism-futures-taskforce/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bill Rosenberg

Dr Bill Rosenberg is Future of Work Director at the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi (NZCTU) in Wellington and is writing in that role. He is a representative of the NZCTU on the Future of Work Tripartite Forum. From 2009 to 2019 he was Policy Director and Economist at the NZCTU. He is a Senior Associate of the Institute of Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington and a Commissioner of the New Zealand Productivity Commission. The views expressed here do not purport to represent the views of these organisations.