Category: Employment Issues

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NZCTU put Brooke van Velden on notice over WorkSafe cuts

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have sent an open letter to Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, following another round of devastating job cuts at WorkSafe.

“Aotearoa New Zealand’s record on workplace health and safety is costing the lives of so many workers, and instead of working to turn that record around, we have a Minister who is making decisions that will cost even more lives,” said NZCTU Acting President Rachel Mackintosh.

“WorkSafe already lost 15% of its staff in the last 12 months – 113 roles. Now the organisation will lose another 54 roles, which will critically undermine its core functions as our workplace health and safety regulator.

“Alongside these job cuts, WorkSafe have announced they are disestablishing the health team, which will undoubtedly lead to an increase in health-related harm and deaths in workplaces across the country.

“Dozens of New Zealand workers die each year as a result of workplace injuries. In addition, estimates suggest that 750-900 workers die each year from work-related occupational diseases such as asbestosis and cancers.

“This hollowing out of our health and safety regulator is deliberate. WorkSafe is being set up to fail. The Minister and her Government have an aversion to regulation, yet good regulation is essential to good health and safety and saving workers lives.

“Workers will need to issue the Minister with an improvement notice if she doesn’t start taking health and safety seriously and use her role to bring down our abysmal injury and death rates.

“This Minister is overseeing an all-out assault on working people – while gutting WorkSafe, she is leaving workers in the ditch on Holidays Act reform, undermining personal grievance claims, and threatening to weaken health and safety law. This is on top of scrapping fair pay agreements, bringing back 90-day fire at will agreements and redrafting employment law on behalf of the multinational corporation, Uber.

“Working people are sick and tired of this Minister and her extreme anti-worker agenda. It’s well past time she learnt the requirements of her role and put the health and wellbeing of workers above the interests of big business.

“We are putting Brooke van Velden on notice and saying enough is enough,” said Mackintosh.

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Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation.

“With inflation forecast at 2% by the Reserve Bank, the new minimum wage rate is an effective cut in real terms and will leave workers worse off. This is the second year in a row where this Government has made the decision to cut the Minimum wage in real terms,” said NZCTU Acting President Rachel Mackintosh.

“National promised to support New Zealanders through the cost-of-living crisis, and yet this decision will mean that the lowest income workers fall even further behind. Minimum wage Workers are now $1,206 a year worse off as a consequence of these real term wage cuts”.

“Government has a responsibility to ensure that all workers have enough to afford rent, pay the bills, put good food on the table, and buy their kids what they need. How are workers meant to keep up with rising food and rent costs when the Government is cutting their wages in real terms?

“At a time when inflation is coming down, this was an opportunity for the Government to give workers a break and ensure they get real terms pay increases.

“All New Zealand workers have the right to a liveable income to support their families – they deserve to be paid a Living Wage,” said Mackintosh.

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NZCTU open letter to Treasury on undue restrictions on restricted briefings

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

Iain Rennie, CNZM
Secretary and Chief Executive to the Treasury

Dear Secretary,

Undue restrictions on restricted briefings

This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been formally invited, by the Treasury, to attend the briefing. After the CTU replied to the invitation, Treasury appears to have changed its rules for attendance. Our application to attend was then rejected.

The Treasury now states that “Representatives from peak bodies, professional bodies, unions, universities, industry bodies, industry information services, and advocacy groups, among others, would no longer be allowed to attend”. That means bodies such as Business New Zealand would not be able to attend, nor would organisations such as Local Government New Zealand, Child Poverty Action Group, Aotearoa 350, or Tax Justice Aotearoa. Alongside the CTU these are all national organisations with a strong and legitimate interest in understanding how the government is investing its resources.  

Treasury said the purpose of restricted briefings is to provide participants with time to consider materials before public release to enable more accurate reporting and to assist “in transparency and accountability to the public”. The Treasury has therefore concluded that other groups, such as the CTU, no longer have a time-sensitive need for the materials. This despite the fact that attendance by bodies such as these has been the norm for many years without incident.

We must object to this interpretation in the strongest terms. Groups – including the CTU – affected by the new guidelines regularly provide their analysis of Budget figures to their own readers, who number in the hundreds of thousands, and provide expert analysis to journalists attending the restricted briefings. Both functions assist in transparency and accountability to the public, which is the purpose of restricted briefings.

How does it promote the interests of “transparency and accountability to the public” or assist public understanding when external organisations such as Bloomberg will be able to tell foreign investors what’s in the Government books, and provide considered analysis, faster than organisations representing New Zealand workers, business, and taxpayers?

The CTU alone represents 27 Trade Unions with more than 300,000 members. They have a keen interest in understanding the financial situation of the Government – many of whose employment and income rely on the Crown Accounts. Timely analysis and communications from the CTU are essential. Could you please explain why their need for information is less important than that of financial markets?  

The lock-up is also an opportunity to engage with the Minister of Finance and the Secretary of the Treasury. To ask questions about the contents of the report, and to have answers to questions heard by media. There is no other opportunity to do that outside of this lock-up. Why should banks be able to ask the Minister questions about economic growth, but other groups find themselves shut out?

Lock-ups do not just bring analysts into a room with access to advance copy of the fiscal documents. Attendees at restricted briefings can also ask Treasury officials how complex estimates were generated. Being able to ask officials about the estimates helps analysts provide better-informed reports with fewer errors. It also means that analysts who misrepresent the figures have little excuse for their own errors.

We sympathise with Treasury’s predicament. When more people wish to attend restricted briefings than can be accommodated, it has to choose who to disappoint. But there has never been a HYEFU briefing where the room was full, and where those who attended couldn’t be seated. This is not a capacity issue.

Democracy and public scrutiny are not supported by locking social partners and non-financial institutions out of the lock-up. This is a retrograde step, which appears to have nothing to do with capacity, security, or with a desire to ensure that complex documents such as the HYEFU are communicated well to audiences across New Zealand.

The CTU strongly urges the Treasury to reconsider these guidelines and your decision to rescind our access. We look forward to a timely response to this letter.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Mackintosh

Acting NZCTU President

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New restricted entry intervals for pesticides (REIs)

Source: Worksafe New Zealand

After working with industry, we’ve set a number of new restricted entry intervals (REIs) for pesticides. These will come into force on 10 June 2025 to give PCBUs and suppliers time to adapt to the new REIs.

REIs are the length of time people are not allowed in an area where a pesticide has been applied unless they are wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). This protects workers and others from being exposed to harmful levels of pesticides through contact with skin and inhalation. They are determined by the type of crop, the maturity of the crop, and the amount of contact a person may have with the foliage after pesticide application. For this reason, REIs for the same pesticide can differ between crops. 

Alongside these new REIs, we have published a quick guide which outlines what a PCBU is required to do when using pesticides with REIs. This guide covers how to determine which PPE is appropriate for different activities, cleaning PPE, and signage.

See the full list of REIs

Read the accompanying quick guide

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Six years of work wasted – Holidays Act reform now years away

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

Brooke van Velden has wasted six years of work from businesses, unions, and government by binning planned Holidays Act reforms, said Acting CTU President Rachel Mackintosh in response to today’s announcement from Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety.

 “The Minister has cynically kicked the can on Holiday Act reform even further down the road, meaning an even longer delay for workers trying to get their basic rights to leave recognised,” said Mackintosh.

“The Government is again making decisions that are bad for workers by departing from an agreement that ensured any changes wouldn’t be damaging to working people.

 “When this review commenced, businesses and unions agreed that Holidays Act reforms would not result in leaving workers worse off. The change in direction announced today throws that agreement up in the air.

“Workers and businesses have asked for clarity around their Holidays Act requirements. Rather than getting on with the job, all the Minister has done today is ensure greater uncertainty for even longer.

“Her proposed new model could also mean that every worker would need to record their hours worked, which would add complexity to the system. The Minister needs to listen to workers and business as social partners and implement what was already agreed.

“In her speech today, the Minister mentioned she was listening to employers and “experts” but failed to mention workers. This is more evidence that she is making decisions for only the employer side of the employment relationship, not the millions of workers in this country.

 “After six years of work and tripartite agreement on the future of the Holidays Act, today the Minister has taken us back to the start. In doing so, she also appears to have taken protections for workers off the table.

“This is yet another example of this Government deliberately making life harder for working people,” said Mackintosh.

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WorkSafe finalises organisational change decisions

Source: Worksafe New Zealand

WorkSafe New Zealand is moving forward with organisational changes to deliver its strategy.

“We are increasing our frontline services, which includes investing an additional $2.7 million annually into growing our inspectorate. In turn, we are simplifying our structure, reducing some non-frontline roles, and ensuring all roles are clearly linked to strategic delivery,” says WorkSafe’s Chief Executive Sharon Thompson.

Feedback on the change proposal has been under consideration since mid-November, following a consultation period with WorkSafe’s kaimahi and stakeholders.

WorkSafe currently has 704 permanent roles. Following decisions, there will be 675 permanent roles, which includes growing our inspectorate over time.

“Our strategy involves a mix of enforcement, engagement, and permitting activities, with a targeted focus on high-risk sectors and high-risk work,” says Sharon.

This requires a shift in how roles and resources will be allocated in the new structure.

WorkSafe’s allocated budget is less than the last financial year, due to the end of some time-limited and ACC funding.

Expressions of interest will open prior to Christmas to redeploy current kaimahi where possible into roles in the new structure, which takes effect at the end of March 2025.

Read more about WorkSafe’s strategy

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NZCTU slams Government’s ferry fiasco

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is slamming the Government for failing to show any leadership on infrastructure delivery after they revealed today, they have no plan to replace the Cook Strait ferries a year on from their decision to cancel the iReX project.

“Today’s announcement by the Minister of Finance showed why New Zealanders shouldn’t trust this Government on infrastructure – despite wasting huge amounts of money and time, they still have no coherent plan to replace the Cook Strait ferries,” said Acting NZCTU President Rachel Mackintosh.

“It has been a year since the Government cancelled the existing contract and we know little more now than we did then. We have no information on where replacement ferries are coming from, how much they will cost, who will pay for them, or how the port infrastructure will be delivered. We don’t know how much it will cost to cancel the existing order.

“New Zealand had contracts for ships that had been set to arrive in February 2026 and September 2026. We are now planning on having ships possibly arrive sometime in 2029.

“The ferries are reaching the end of their service life, and all we have been given another working group. The original project should never have been cancelled.

“Crucially, it now appears as if the decision has been made to take rail-enabled ships off the table. The Government is now talking about being “rail compatible”. This will mean using lorries to put freight on and off ferries. This will take longer, is less efficient, will raise costs for users, and will likely increase emissions.

“The Government announcement also appears keen to privatise the service, stating that they are open to proposals from the private sector. This would likely mean that a private entity will take profit out of a service currently being run by government.

“Workers on the Cook Strait ferries, service users, and New Zealanders all deserve better than this. This is a plan to have a plan at some point in the future. What is needed is action,” said Mackintosh.

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NZCTU urges political parties to vote down extreme anti-worker bill

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting President Rachel Mackintosh is calling on political parties to vote down Brooke van Velden’s Employment Relations (Pay Deductions for Partial Strikes) Amendment Bill, as it would undermine the ability of workers to engage in industrial action and may even lead to workers losing pay for simply doing the job they were employed to do.

“Enabling pay deductions for partial strike action is bad lawmaking and will have the opposite effect of what the Minister is claiming to achieve through this law change,” said Mackintosh.

“Allowing employers to deduct wages for partial strikes allows for the intimidation of workers and may mean that partial strike action will be abandoned, forcing workers to fully withdraw labour, which will escalate disputes.

“Industrial action is supposed to help level the power imbalances in employment relationships that favour employers. This change undermines that and tips the balance of power even further in favour of employers by introducing a punitive response to legitimate industrial action.

“It is absurd that the Minister considers that work-to-rule is a form of partial strike. Work-to-rule just means following the letter of your employment agreement, for example choosing not to change a scheduled shift or complete a task that is outside the scope of your role.

“What this will mean is that a worker could be punished financially for simply doing the job they were employed to do, and not even engaging in strike action.

“The Bill currently before the House is in contradiction with our international commitments to provide workers the right to organise and collectively bargain, and to provide adequate protection to workers against acts of anti-union discrimination in employment.

“We believe that the Government should be proactively enabling and engaging in upcoming public service collective bargaining rather than creating loopholes and escapes to undermine the country’s employment relations framework.

“The only winners of this Bill will be the lawyers. This legislation will lead to increased litigation, and prolonging bargaining and industrial action at the expense of both workers and employers.

“Christopher Luxon is once again allowing the ACT party to advance its extreme anti-worker agenda in this latest round of brazen attacks on the rights of working people,” said Mackintosh.

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Lockout of disability workers before Christmas unacceptable

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting President Rachel Mackintosh is condemning the actions of disability support provider Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau Trust in deciding to respond to legitimate strike action by locking out their workers with just a few weeks before Christmas.

“The actions of Te Roopu Taurima are totally unacceptable and represent a flagrant attack on the rights and conditions of their workers,” said Mackintosh.

“These workers are striking over their basic right to secure jobs and a liveable income, resisting their employer’s attempts to restrict secondary employment and introduce discriminatory 90-day trials.

“Locking out low-paid disability workers before Christmas is shameful. Workers who support the disabled in our communities should be valued and celebrated, not bullied, and coerced to accept an unjust deal.

“Lockouts are an extreme and irresponsible course of action and are never an acceptable way of resolving employment disputes. In this case the lockout was also called illegally as the employer didn’t give 14 days’ notice or outline their negotiating demands.

“It seems that Christopher Luxon’s government has emboldened employers to follow their lead and treat workers badly,” said Mackintosh.