50,000 sign petition against anti-worker law
Annette King
Acting Deputy Labour Leader
30 October 2014
50,000 sign petition against anti-worker law
More than 50,000 Kiwis have signed Labour’s petition against the Government’s scrapping of tea break entitlements, Labour’s Acting Deputy Leader Annette King says.
“That’s the equivalent of five people signing our petition every minute for a week. It shows the high level of concern National’s mean-spirited legislation has caused.”
Labour will seek to table the petition today.
“The Employment Relations Amendment Bill is ideologically driven. Employers were not crying out for these changes. Only 35 of more than 13,000 submissions supported it.
“Removing employer’s obligation to conclude collective bargaining will reduce the number of agreements which protect groups of workers. This will further drive down wages in New Zealand and particularly harm Māori and Pacific Island workers, many of whom are already in low paid jobs.
“The Bill also removes the right for vulnerable workers in small businesses to be secure from redundancy and have their terms and conditions protected when the business is sold.
“Labour calls on the Government to abandon its attempt to push the Bill through today and looks forward to being able to highlight these issues further when our petition is presented to a select committee,” Annette King says.
ENDS