Workers are disappointed by the passing of the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill, but an opportunity has arisen to minimise its damage, says Melissa Ansell-Bridges, Secretary of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi.
"This law change stands to have a significant impact on the lives of working people. It is very disappointing to see the Government choosing to make life even harder for workers who are already doing it tough at the moment. Workers shouldn't be having to worry that their workplace protections are being eroded just because of the size of the business they work for, or because some MPs don't consider threats to their health as 'critical'.
These changes are out of touch with the reality of work says Ansell-Bridges.
"Risks that workers face every day in the workplace - such as violence and aggression, stress and fatigue, and musculoskeletal injuries - have been deprioritised.
"However, the actions of trade unions and working people to fight back against this law change has given us a window of opportunity to limit the damage it can do.
"Our petition, co-sponsored by Stand with Pike campaigners Sonya Rockhouse and Anna Osborne, calling on MPs to vote against this law, gathered over 12,000 signatures in a fortnight. It was this pressure that has seen the commencement date of this law moved past the election to April 2027.
The CTU will now turn our efforts to ensuring that this law does not come into effect.
"We will be pushing the new Government elected in November to repeal this law before it can do harm to workers," says Ansell-Bridges.
