Read this article in:
10 April, 2011
Employment law changes in New Zealand took effect 1 April have given all employers the right to dismiss employees within a first 90-day “trial” period, with no rights to grievance procedure. This rule previously applied for small businesses of fewer than 20 employees.
Now it applies in all workplaces, no matter the side of the workforce.
The regressive changes also include restrictions on trade union access to a worksite, relaxation of fairness tests on dismissals, the ability of employers to bypass the union in collective negotiations, the possibility to exchange holiday days for money, the right to shift public holidays without payment, and the right for employers to demand a medical certificate for one day’s sick leave.
There is nothing fair in the workplace law changes, according to ICEM-affiliated Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU).
EPMU National Secretary, Andrew Little
Click here to sign the EPMU’s petition.
"We are approaching employers with either collective bargaining claims to stop things like the 90 day no rights law, or the new rules on medical certificates being used by employers, or seeking a pledge that they will not reduce themselves to the low level that the law represents," said EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. Some employers have already agreed not to use the bad new law, including Telecom, which employs 7,000 employees in New Zealand.