Labour to oppose gutted Health and Safety Bill
Iain
LEES-GALLOWAY
Spokesperson for Labour Issues
24 July 2015
MEDIA STATEMENT
Labour to oppose gutted Health and Safety Bill
The Health and Safety Reform Bill is a backwards step for New Zealand workers and Labour will not support it in its current form.
Labour’s spokesperson for Labour Issues Iain Lees-Galloway says National has forgotten the lessons from Pike River and broken its promise to make our workplaces safer.
“New Zealand has an abysmal health and safety record. Labour supported the original intention of this Bill because it was based on evidence and international best practice.
“However National has significantly weakened it with changes based on anecdotal assertions and outright fearmongering by a small group of employers.
“The Government is pandering to this minority of bad employers who put profits over the safety of the people who work for them.
“This Bill will deny more than 300,000 workers the right to have a health and safety representative. This is despite major business groups such as the Employers and Manufacturers Association and Business New Zealand opposing exclusions for some workplaces.
“National failed to use the two month delay they called for to make any changes or put some teeth back into this Bill.
“This delay was simply stalling to buy the silence of the MPs who oppose making work safer for hardworking Kiwis. The factional infighting displayed over this entire process has been a huge embarrassment for the Government.
“Labour will be putting up amendments to make sure this Bill creates safer workplaces and calls on other parties to support them,” Iain Lees-Galloway says.