Green Party workplace relations spokesperson Jan Logie says the party will be pushing for the strongest Fair Pay Agreement measures as the Government negotiates among itself.

The Green Party says it will push for the most powerful labour laws as the Government closes in on Fair Pay Agreements.

TheFPAs would compel unions and employer associations to negotiate industry-wide collective employment agreements, and were an election promise that has proved controversial for the Labour-led Government.

Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway is now negotiating the final design of the bargaining regime with NZ First and the Greens.

STUFF Business representatives have concerns on the government's findings.

Green Party workplace relations spokeswoman Jan Logie said the party wanted the strongest measures, including a threshold requiring negotiations when 10 per cent or 1000 employees in a sector call for an FPA.

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Also being backed by the Greens: union representatives in contract negotiations, the inclusion of training and career pathways for workers within agreements, and an independent arbiter for when negotiations break down.

JOSEPH JOHNSON/STUFF Business groups have warned that Fair Pay Agreements could lead to drawn out industrial disputes. (file photo)

"If we're to really to get to the heart of the problem that's seeing people stuck on minimum wage for 30 years, working 16 hours days ... We've got to take a strong legislative response," she said.

Business groups have strongly contested the worth of FPAs, saying the measure would damage productivity and the labour market, and take New Zealand back to an era heavily troubled by industrial action.

But Logie said FPAs would not damage the economy, and evidence showed it was the "best tool" for lifting wages and conditions — including tackling an "increasingly casualised" workforce.

DOM THOMAS/RNZ Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says he is taking in feedback from a round of consultation on Fair Pay Agreements and negotiating with the Greens and NZ First on the final design of the bill.

Temporary workers, including those on casual contracts, have remained a steady portion of New Zealand's economy since 2012, during the emergence of the "gig economy" and removal of zero-hour contracts.

Logie said the Greens took a wider view, that casualisation has occurred since major labour reforms from the 1980s onwards — which FPAs would address.

"We certainly still hear from people who are on these contracts that are struggling, that they're not contracts by choice.

"Nobody's saying that we don't want part-time work, or that we don't want people to have, be able to set up a working life that they shape through different contracts."

Treasury has warned the Government it provided little evidence that FPAs would improve wages and work conditions.

The inter-governmental Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has said FPAs might reduce wage inequality, but also reduce productivity.

Logie said a report by research outfit BERL, commissioned by the Council of Trade Unions, "explicitly" stated there was no evidence FPAs would dampen productivity.

The report also said the OECD now generally supported sector-wide bargaining.

"A few decades ago the [OECD] was arguing for our previous policies around individualised contracting ... they recognise there's a positive impact around wages and social dialogue," Logie said.

"If you think about the changes around globalisation and around the increased technology, and the moves to a decarbonised society, then that dialogue is going to be essential to help us manage those changes."

Logie said she has been speaking to Lees-Galloway about FPAs but not NZ First MPs — some who have expressed skepticism about aspects of the proposed law.

Lees-Galloway said the Government was working through the consultation feedback, and he would "seek agreement on the final design of FPAs from all three parties of Government in the next few months".

NZ First workplace relations spokesman Clayton Mitchell was approached for comment.