“The Employment Relations Bill as passed into legislation today creates the potential for widespread mischief making and
even corruption,” said the New Zealand First Industrial Relations spokesperson, Peter Brown.
“This law gives unions monopoly rights over collective agreements and the ability to pressure employers into
multi-employer agreements as well as access to sensitive commercial information, thereby opening the door to potential
corruption.
“Unions will be able to collate and store information provided by employers on a computer database. This is a huge
advantage if the unions themselves want to go into business, to favour a particular employer or form a joint venture
with an investor.
“The requirement to act in ‘Good Faith’ can easily be overcome and it is difficult to see any workable fair definition
being arrived at which can be effectively policed,” concluded Peter Brown.
ENDS