Hon Brooke van Velden
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety

Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden responds to NZCTU’s protest across the country and says this Government is delivering for all workers, including the over 85 percent of New Zealand’s labour force who are not union members.

“This coalition Government is focused on delivering for all hardworking New Zealanders as we continue to get spending under control, lift the country’s productivity and economic growth and deliver more efficient and effective public services,” says Ms van Velden.

“In my own portfolio, I’ve been focused on getting the labour market settings right in order to ensure New Zealanders have access to more and better jobs,” says Ms van Velden.

“At the beginning of my term this Government moved at pace to remove the Fair Pay Agreement legislation before any fair pay agreements were finalised and the negative impacts would have been felt by the labour market. Rather than helping employees, Fair Pay Agreements would have made life harder for businesses, making them more hesitant to employ people, and may have even resulted in business closure.

“This Government also worked quickly to ensure that New Zealanders have access to more job opportunities, by extending the availability of 90-day trials. This allows employers to take on someone who might not tick all the boxes in terms of skills and experience but who has the right attitude, without the risk of a costly dismissal process.

“Recently, I announced changes that would ensure workers could have certainty that they will continue to have access to contracting as a working arrangement and will have access to greater protections as well. The gateway contracting test achieves the best of all worlds: it gives businesses greater certainty to utilise contracting arrangements, but also improves the rights of workers by requiring there to be a written agreement and ensuring the characteristics of the work reflect a genuine contracting arrangement.

“While I have not made any policy announcements yet, I expect the work I am doing to reform health and safety will create an environment where businesses and organisations can confidently address the things that cause workers harm. Workers and businesses should not be tripped up by unnecessary steps or trying to interpret and navigate complex or confusing rules and regulations.

“Beyond my Workplace Relations and Safety portfolio, the coalition Government is delivering for workers across the board. That includes reducing inflation to ease the cost of living, delivering tax relief so that New Zealanders can enjoy the fruits of their hard work

“New Zealanders elected a Government that would get government spending under control and deliver more efficient and effective public services. We make no apologies for starting to put things right.”

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