The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is condemning select committee changes to the Employment Relations Amendment Bill, which would give bad employers an even greater ability to exploit workers.
"This legislation is one of the most anti-worker bills in New Zealand history, and shockingly the Bill as reported back from select committee will make life for workers even worse than the original draft," said NZCTU President Sandra Grey.
"These changes threaten every single worker in Aotearoa. No one is safe from the erosion of rights and conditions that this Bill enables.
"Brooke van Velden drafted aspects of the Bill to please corporate lobbyists for multinationals like Uber, and now following the Supreme Court win for the Uber drivers the Government has made changes that will prevent those workers from achieving any justice.
"The personal grievance changes are also trying to tie the courts hands and prevent them from establishing justice for workers. They entrench power imbalances and leave workers facing unjustified dismissal with no statutory protection. The select committee did nothing to improve these provisions.
"This Bill removes the 30-day rule, which is another attempt undermine unions. Removing the rule, which gives workers the automatic protection of a collective agreement for the first 30 days in a new job, will encourage employers to exploit workers when they are at their most vulnerable.
"The Bill is antithetical to workers' rights and represents the worst attack on workers since the Employment Contracts Act in the 90s. Workers will not forget this at the ballot box next year," said Grey.
