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Chapter 8 - Labour Law

Deregulation

Deregulation means removing laws and regulations so that there is less restriction and 'red-tape' for people who want to operate in an area. Deregulation sometimes has a positive effect - for example the lifting of regulations that control the granting of hawkers' licences. This means that more people can work as hawkers or street traders because the laws about getting a hawker's licence aren't so strict.

But in other cases deregulation can be a bad thing for workers.

Examples of 'negative' deregulation are:

• when some industries can apply to be exempt from Bargaining Council Agreements.
• when some businesses are exempted from some of the provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, for example being allowed to have continuous working hours.
• when some small businesses are exempted from the laws in Wage Determinations. For example, most Wage Determinations say that the provisions of the Wage Determinations do not apply to businesses operating in their first year, as long as there is only one such business. This means that for the first twelve months that a business operates, the business doesn't have to pay minimum wages, or follow any of the conditions laid down in the Wage Determination. In the second year, these businesses only have to pay workers 90% of the wage set out in the Determination. The Wage Determinations also exempt any business that has less than a certain number of workers, or businesses with a certain turnover.
• where 'industrial hives' are created. These are set areas where wage regulating laws will not apply. But these industrial hives must be specifically proclaimed. In other words it must be made law that a specific area is excluded from the provisions of certain protective laws.

Deregulation CAN override the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.