CTU Media Release

EMBARGOED UNTIL 4am, Thursday 13 June 2013

ILO told that NZ is no longer the international ‘good guy’

In a speech to the ILO conference today  CTU President Helen Kelly has said that by passing law changes that the New Zealand Government knows are in breach of its ILO undertakings, New Zealand can no longer pretend to be the ‘good guy’ of international forums.

Helen Kelly highlighted the growing inequality in New Zealand and the fact the law changes will make this worse and said “the government likes to portray an image of New Zealand that it can no longer sustain. It promotes an image of an egalitarian society where everyone gets a fair go, of a liberal social agenda with strong social dialogue, and of a modern international outlook which respects and actively supports the international institutions and in particular the United Nations.  This is how our government is pitching New Zealand to the UN as part of seeking a position on the UN Security Council.  But, sadly, it is no longer a reality.”

“Our current reality is a government which is deliberately choosing to legislate in a way it knows breaches our commitments under ILO conventions. By knowingly doing this, the government is effectively thumbing its nose at the founding ideas of the UN and its constituent bodies.”

The government’s employment law changes will allow employers to opt out of multi-employer collective agreement bargaining. This is a breach of Conventions C87 Freedom of Association and C98 Collective Bargaining. The Bill weakens collective bargaining and will exclude new employees from collective coverage at the time they are most vulnerable - when they start a new job. It means that employers can favour individual agreements and refuse to conclude a collective agreement. This Bill will further reduce pay and conditions for New Zealand workers, especially for low paid, vulnerable workers.

These changes are unfair on working Kiwis, and are at odds with the image of New Zealand that our government is trying to sell to the international community.

New Zealand has a proud history of being a good international citizen with a once respected reputation of complying with our international conventions to which we have signed. By effectively picking and choosing which of our international obligations we will comply with, our government is undermining that history and reputation.

Helen Kelly told the Organisation that “the Minister of Labour Simon Bridges will be at the ILO next week and has said that he will seek advice from the organisation about the international legality of the proposed employment law changes. The ILO office has agreed that they can help with this meeting and I hope our Minister shows sufficient respect when he is attending this conference to afford the organisation at least that courtesy”.

ENDS 

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