May 1 is International Workers Day and on May 6 a number of significant employment law changes will come into effect making life better for working New Zealanders.
"These changes are happening becausepeople have come together, they have, in union, campaigned for betteremployment law. These wins benefit all working Kiwis and are testament to thepower of collectivism and the importance of unity," CTU President RichardWagstaff said.
"The reinstatement of the right to mealand rest breaks is something so important. It is something which has a positiveimpact on people's health at work. We know that many employers maintained mealand rest breaks when the National government removed the entitlement over fouryears. Unfortunately some employers removed this basic right. They will nowneed to
"Good employers have never used trialperiods. The fact that they are now a thing of the past, for workplaces of 20staff or more, is a great thing. The next step is to give all working Kiwismore stability with the removal of trial periods entirely regardless of thesize of the workplace."
"Being able to see in writing what youremployment conditions are is so important to working people. It providescertainty and transparency. From May 6 labour inspectors will be able to issue immediatefines of $1,000 where an written employment agreement is not inexistence."
"There is certainly more work which needsto be done including the introduction of Fair Pay Agreements. This May Daywe're celebrating the successes working people are having with improvements totheir working lives," Wagstaff said.
