Protests brought changes, though not nearly enough

The Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) is very pleased its direct initiatives with Government ministers resulted in changes to some of the stupidest clauses in the Employment Relations Bill.

"Government has changed some of the clauses that should never have been written into the Bill in the first place, " said Alasdair Thompson, the EMA's chief executive.

"So we welcome in particular the amendments to apply to the conditions of fixed term contracts, independent contractors and to ensure communications between employers and employees can be kept going.

"We are pleased our direct communication over these points at least made a difference.

"We are extremely disappointed Government has felt the need to keep its blinkers on over some of the other changes that business believes are very necessary.

"We would have completely supported changes to industrial relations law to strengthen the opportunity for free collective bargaining in the workplace. The new law stipulates collective bargaining is a monopoly right for unions to manage and control.

"We are opposed to this monopoly and will continue our efforts to have the law changed from union monopolised collectives toe free collective bargaining.

"Multi employer bargaining and the financial disclosure requirements still fall a long way short of what our internationally exposed economy must have in place to thrive.

"We are disappointed the Bill will be seen by history as another of New Zealand's triumphs of ideology over sound economic sense and good practice. Th Government has missed an opportunity to develop fair legislation that will endure."

Further comments: Alasdair Thompson tel 09 367 0911 (bus) 09 303 3951 (hme) 025 982 024

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