RNZ, Wellington, September 22, 2018
Labour and New Zealand First are working on some changes to the government’s employment law legislation, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said.
‘The Employment Relations Amendment Bill,’ which is before Parliament, scraps the 90-day trial period for businesses with 20 or more employees and carries a raft of union-friendly changes including collective agreement bargaining and greater union access to workplaces.
Concerns expressed
New Zealand First minister Shane Jones said provincial employers and regional leaders had expressed some concerns about the Bill.
Ms Ardern said that there were still some parts of the Bill that were being discussed between the parties.
But she told TV3’s Newshub Nation that she was confident the Bill would still achieve the goal of improving employment law.
New Zealand First Support
“As even the Deputy Prime Minister himself has said, ‘this Bill will pass’; we are working on some details collectively. I will keep my confidence around those negotiations, as I do with all of our negotiations, but we are the Labour Party, issues of employment legislation of course are critical to us, but I would say that actually they are to New Zealand First as well,” she said.
The details of the changes would be released soon, and people would be able to see that the balance of employment relations would be improved, Ms Ardern said.
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Jacinda Ardern is confident that the Employment Relations Amendment Bill would achieve the goal of improving employment law.
(Photo by Richard Tindiller for RNZ)
