CTU Media Release

4 June 2013

Bill to cut workers’ pay in Parliament

The CTU is disappointed that the government law to make it easier to cut workers’ pay and conditions, and remove vulnerable workers protection will have its First Reading in Parliament tonight.

CTU Secretary Peter Conway says “the Employment Relations Amendment Bill will worsen the pay and working conditions of many workers in New Zealand. It will increase inequality and make it harder for working families to get by.”

“The Bill is being framed to be about choice and flexibility but its real effect will be to weaken collective bargaining. Employers can favour individual agreements and refuse to conclude a collective agreement. This Bill will further reduce pay and conditions for New Zealand workers, especially for low paid, vulnerable workers. These changes are unfair on working Kiwis.”

“This law will also mean that some of our most vulnerable workers - caretakers and cleaners, catering workers, hospital orderlies and laundry workers, who work for small businesses will no longer have the stability and protection of being able to maintain their current wages and conditions if their contract is transferred to another company. It will encourage rogue companies to come in and underbid good employers who offer decent wages and conditions. It is the workers who will pay for these lower bids in their wages they can ill afford to lose. This will take us further away from a living wages.”

“The Bill even removes guaranteed meal and refreshment breaks”.

“We are be campaigning against these changes, and pushing for fair employment laws that encourage collective bargaining as the way to higher wages and productive and safe workplaces, not changes that undermine bargaining and make it even harder for workers to get ahead,” said Peter Conway.

ENDS

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