A guide about what this Government has changed and what it means for working people

There's a lot of employment law changes to keep track of. You don't need to know every Act or remember every legal detail to understand the changes that have been made over the last 3 years, and how they impact your life.

What has changed for you since this Government came to power?

The Government has rushed through a raft of changes to laws that impact working people.

• lost bargaining power
• lost job security
• lost protections
• less paid leave and, for some, less pay while on leave
• the rules are making it easier to move away from secure employment towards contracting and other insecure arrangements

These aren't abstract changes. They affect people at work, in our pay packets and in our lives.

THE BIG LOSSES

1. LESS BARGAINING POWER

Fair Pay Agreements were scrapped.

Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) gave workers and employers a way to negotiate minimum standards across entire industries. So if you were working at ANY supermarket across the motu, your starting rates and conditions would be the same.

Seven FPAs were initiated before the system was repealed, including in hospitality, buses, cleaning, supermarkets, security, early childhood education and ports.

But in December 2023, FPAs were repealed before any agreement was completed.

What workers lost: a new way to lift standards across low-paid industries and stop employers competing by driving conditions down.

What would change in your whole industry if workers could bargain together for better minimum standards?

2. LESS JOB SECURITY

It is easier for employers to use 90-day trials.

The Government extended 90-day trials to all employers.

That means more people could start a job knowing their employment can be ended during a trial period without the ability to challenge the dismissal.

The rules around dismissal have also changed.

Since February 2026, new employment law has changed the way personal grievances work, including introducing a $200,000 high-income threshold for dismissal protections, changing the remedies available to some workers and removing the 30-day rule for new employees covered by collective agreements.

Have you changed jobs since 2023? What difference in your job security have you seen?

3. LESS PAY EQUITY

The Government changed the rules while pay equity claims were active.

The changes to the pay equity system got rid of all the existing claims and changed the rules for work traditionally done by women that has been systematically undervalued.

The changes also raised the bar for claims and restricted the way comparable work can be considered.

What workers lost: a pathway to challenge systemic undervaluation of women's work and progress that workers had spent years organising to achieve.

Is your industry or occupation female-dominated? What would pay equity mean for you?

4. LESS PAID LEAVE AND A MORE COMPLICATED SYSTEM

The Holidays Act is being replaced.

The Employment Leave Act has passed and is scheduled to replace the Holidays Act in August 2028. It changes how annual leave, sick leave, bereavement leave, family violence leave and alternative holidays are calculated and paid.

The new system moves towards an hours-based approach. For workers with irregular or changing hours, that can mean less money, and getting less for leave.

The new system also changes how leave payments are calculated.

Leave is not just a number on a payslip. It's time you get back to live your life.

Do your hours change from week to week? Have you been told about these changes?

5. LOWER WAGES

The minimum wage has not kept pace with the cost of living.

Minimum wage increases in 2024, 2025 and 2026 were below inflation.

For workers already on low incomes, that means the value of their wages has continued to be squeezed while the cost of essentials has risen.

A pay rise that doesn't keep up with the cost of living isn't much of a pay rise.

Is your pay keeping up with the cost of living?

6. WEAKER HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTECTIONS

Health and safety law is changing too.

From 1 April 2027, businesses with fewer than 20 workers will have different duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act, with their obligations focused on "critical risks". Larger businesses will still have duties covering all risks, while prioritising critical risks.

Of course, critical risks matter. But so do the other things that can make people sick, injured or unsafe at work, including psychosocial harm.

The Government has also changed the framework around how businesses manage workplace risks.

What workers need to watch: whether the changes make it harder to raise concerns about risks that aren't immediately life-threatening but still affect their health and safety.

What are the health and safety issues in your workplace that workers are worried about?

7. WEAKER PROTECTION FOR SOME WORKERS

The line between employee and contractor is easier to cross.

The Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026 introduced a new statutory gateway test for specified contractors.

Where the test is met, a worker cannot challenge their status as a contractor through the Employment Relations Act.

That matters, because contractors don't have the same employment rights as employees.

What workers risk losing: the security and protections that come with being an employee.

Are you an employee? Or are you expected to do the same as an employee while being called a contractor?

8. LESS ENFORCEMENT

Rights only matter if they're enforced.

Cuts to WorkSafe and changes to its focus mean workers and unions need to pay close attention to whether workplace protections are actually being enforced.

WorkSafe remains the country's primary workplace health and safety regulator.

If something unsafe is happening at work, do you feel confident your employer will fix it?

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

These individual changes matter but there is a much bigger pattern. Taken together, these changes push working life away from secure employment and collective power towards a more casualised, individualised workforce.

That matters because when workers have less security, they have less power to speak up.

When workers have less bargaining power, it is harder to improve wages and conditions.

As we have seen in the past, when workers are treated as individuals competing with each other, it becomes easier for employers to drive conditions down.

THIS IS ABOUT MORE THAN ONE GOVERNMENT

These changes didn't happen by accident. They are political choices about whose interests should come first.

Workers can organise for something different:

• better pay
• secure jobs
• fair treatment
• safe workplaces
• pay equity
• time to live, not just work
• a fairer deal for working people.

The question isn't:

What have working people lost?

It's:

What are we going to win back?