MEDIA RELEASE

THE NATIONAL DISTRIBUTION UNION

Workplace Access Removal Threatens Living Standards

Workers’ hopes of bargaining for better pay and conditions will be threatened if the National Party has its way says the NDU.

National Secretary Laila Harré says union campaigns for better wages in supermarkets, fast food chains and other workplaces would not have been possible without the union access and collective bargaining rights guaranteed by the Employment Relations Act.

“National would require employer consent to unions entering workplaces,” she says.

“Workers have to ask who this will benefit. The answer is employers who want to keep the union out and pay rates low. Good access rights are critical to keeping good living standards for workers.

“To make matters worse National are also planning to let employers stop union collective bargaining by signing non-union collective agreements directly with staff. Today workers have a choice to join unions and bargain union collectives when they want – not just when their employer will let them.

“These changes would bring back the guts of the Employment Contracts Act. Beneath the soothing tones ‘time for a change’ is looking like a re-run of old episodes.”

ENDS

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