– New law will make it easy for bosses to fire
workers at will
– Employment
Relations Amendment Bill most anti-worker law in a
generation
As 2026 dawns, working New
Zealanders will soon face increased job insecurity with a
new law coming into force that will give bosses the power to
fire workers at will.
When the Employment Relations
Amendment Bill becomes law within months it will herald an
unprecedented power grab by employers, stripping away
fundamental protections that have been the bedrock of fair
employment for decades.
“Workers will be more
vulnerable than ever before with employers able to undermine
personal grievance protections and fire workers effectively
at will,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the
Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga
Mahi.
“The Government is again riding roughshod over
the rights of workers showing who it really cares about.
Increased job insecurity will pile more pressure on families
at a time when they are already facing higher prices and a
weak job market.”
Workers who want to take a personal
grievance would lose the right to compensation if they
contributed in any way to the situation – even a minor
contribution means no remedy at all, and employers will have
no trouble finding a contribution to avoid paying out a
worker.
“The right to be reinstated in your job should
win a personal grievance case is also being effectively
axed. That is fundamentally unfair. Workers who are unjustly
fired or mistreated should have the right to be reinstated
and face proper remedies.
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
“This is all done in the
name of so called ‘labour market flexibility.’ We all
know what that is code for – driving down wages and eroding
conditions.
“It’s a solution looking for a problem.
Good employers don’t need these powers so all the new law
will really do is embolden those employers who don’t value
their employees as they should.”
In summary, the
changes will:
– mean workers who are legally unfairly
dismissed will have no proper remedies if they have
contributed to the situation, however minor.
– allow
employers to fire at will workers who are unjustifiably
dismissed and earn more than $200,000 – they cannot access a
personal grievance process for unjustified
dismissal.
– remove the provision that automatically
enrols new employees in collective agreements for 30 days.
This means new workers will risk being exposed to 90-day
fire-at-will trials before understanding the protections
offered by collective agreements.
– allow employers to
deem workers contractors removing their right to holiday and
sick pay and means they can be fired at will – the law
change written by multi-national ride share company
Uber.
“This law speaks to who calls the shots in this
government. At every step of the way these past two years,
it’s sought to tilt the balance in favour of employers who
already have the most power in any employment
relationship.
“It’s never been more important for
workers to be backed by a strong union.
“In 2026 the
PSA will be campaigning loudly and clearly against this new
law, reminding working New Zealanders how this government
has bent over backwards to strip away their hard-won rights
in favour of their business mates.
“This is an
election year, and workers will have a clear
choice.”
Notes:
PSA
submission on the Employment Relations Amendment
Bill
See also the Education
and Workforce Committee report back on the
bill
Reminder: the Coalition
Government’s crackdown on workers
included:
– Cancelling 33 pay equity claims
for more than 150,000 women and severely restricted the
ability of workers to make future claims
– Axing Fair
Pay Agreements that would have boosted pay and improved
conditions for low paid workers like supermarket workers and
bus drivers
– Reinstating 90-day fire at will laws for
all employers
– Plans to reduce sick leave
entitlements for part-time workers
– Hitting the pay
of low wage workers by consistently reducing the minimum
wage in real terms
o April 1, 2024: Increased from
$22.70 to $23.15 per hour (45 cents increase, or 2%)
o
April 1, 2025: Increased from $23.15 to $23.50 per hour (35
cents increase, or 1.5%)
o April 1, 2026: to increase
from $23.50 to $23.90 (45 cents or 1.9%)
This amounts
to an increase of $1.25 per hour compared to $3.80
per hour over the last three years of the previous
government.
– Ending worker representation on the
board of WorkSafe – a practice that had existed since
WorkSafe was established following the Pike River Mine
disaster.
The Public Service
Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is
Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest trade union, representing and
supporting more than 95,000 workers across central
government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health
boards and community
groups.
