Council of Trade Unions media release
23 November 2010
Fight against unfair employment laws does not stop here
Unions will not let up in their campaign against National’s unfair and regressive employment laws, said the CTU, despite
the passing of the Employment Relations Act and Holidays Act Amendment Bills in Parliament.
CTU President Helen Kelly said: “Unions are not sitting back in defeat at this moment. We will continue to campaign
against this government’s attack on work rights and its continuing failure to take adequate action against
unemployment.”
“When 80 percent of New Zealanders agree that everyone should have the right to appeal against unfair dismissal, even
within their first 90 days, you do not simply give up when the Government chooses to ignore them. The Government has
chosen to ignore all the best advice on both the ERA and Holidays Acts and has listened only to business lobbies.”
“There are 150,000 New Zealanders officially unemployed, yet the Government’s response is to weaken everyone else’s job
security as though that was the root of the country’s economic problems. It seeks to weaken wage bargaining when our
wages are falling further and further behind Australia’s.”
“Tax cuts and the GST rise have simply handed more wealth to those who have most already and heaped a greater burden on
those who have least. Ninety percent of people now realise they are either no better or worse off after the tax cuts.”
“Workers covered by union-negotiated collective agreements are still receiving wage increases and unions will continue
to fight for better wages, fair work rights and action on unemployment.”
ENDS