Today’s introduction of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill to Parliament shows that the ACT Party - a fringe libertarian party with the support of fewer than one in ten New Zealanders - is now the leading force in Christopher Luxon’s "hands-off" Government and has been given a green light to drag Aotearoa backwards with a disastrous suite of anti-worker 'reforms'.

"It’s clear that Brooke van Velden and the ACT Party are now redefining the future of workers in New Zealand with the blessing of a negligent Prime Minister," said Dennis Maga, Workers First Union General Secretary.

"These are the most significant anti-worker law changes that this country has seen in decades, and they will make life worse for every working person in the country to the benefit of exploitative employers."

"This Bill ‘amends’ employment relations in our country in the same way that a large earthquake ‘amends’ a city."

Mr Maga said proposed law changes intended to distinguish an ‘employee’ from a ‘contractor’ are "desperately pre-emptive" and aim to precede an appeal being heard next month by the Supreme Court of New Zealand on a 2022 Employment Court verdict that four Uber drivers were employees and not contractors.

"This Government has no regard for evidence, no time for judicial process, and is in the pocket of multinational scam artists like Uber who prey on contractor misclassification to skirt around weak legislation," said Mr Maga.

"Instead of strengthening our protection against exploitation, Brooke van Velden is laying out the red carpet for employers like Uber to come into New Zealand and take advantage of cheap labour with next to no rights and no ability to challenge employment status."

Mr Maga said that a proposed change to remove the "30-day rule", which protects a new employee’s rights by signing them up to a collective agreement automatically, was part of a deliberate effort to undermine unions and ensure "atomisation" in the workplace that would erode workers’ collective strength and safety.

"The ACT Party believes workers are simply cheap labour on a balance sheet, and we should be docile, productive and silent on the collective challenges we face at work like poor safety standards, exploitation and low pay," said Mr Maga.

Mr Maga said that these law changes would break an "industrial peace" in Aotearoa that has been enjoyed for some time.

"All options are on the table, and unions will be fighting back because we care about the future of our workplaces and we believe in self-determination and negotiation, not blind servitude to employers," said Mr Maga.

"This one-term Government has been an absolute disaster already, but every week, they manage to surprise us by sinking even lower."

© Scoop Media