Category: Employment Issues

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The Government must ban engineered stone to protect workers’ health

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi is once again advancing its call for a total ban on engineered stone in Aotearoa New Zealand. They are urging Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden to listen to unions, academics, industry leaders, and health and safety experts who all agree that banning this product is crucial.

Australia is set to become the first country in the world to ban engineered stone. From 1 July 2024, Australia is taking engineered stone off the market following its decision to ban importation, manufacturing, and use of the product.

“The evidence of the harm caused by engineered stone is overwhelming. It is clear to us that a ban on this product is the only option,” said CTU President Richard Wagstaff.

“Dubbed the modern-day asbestos, exposure to the silica dust from cutting engineered stone can cause the fatal lung disease silicosis.  

“Workers exposed to this material are developing symptoms at an accelerated rate, and at a much younger age than other occupational respiratory diseases. Silicosis is an incurable disease, but the exposure is preventable. 

“The Australian Government listened to the overwhelming evidence and implemented a total ban. That decision will save workers’ lives.

“The CTU sent a letter to Minister van Velden in December 2023, calling on her to follow the Australian example and ban the importation, manufacturing, and use of engineered stone in New Zealand.  

“The Minister’s silence on this issue demonstrates a lack of concern for the health of working people. This needs to be addressed urgently.

“The Minister has the power to eliminate this hazard and save lives. Instead of prioritising the removal of Fair Pay Agreements and extending trial periods, the Minister should focus on making work better and remove engineered stone.

“Engineered stone is a fashion product, and other options are available. It’s not worth the life-altering damage to workers, and their whānau, to keep this material in the market,” said Mr Wagstaff.

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Government must keep Living Wage for Parliament cleaners – E tū

Source: Etu Union

E tū, the union covering cleaners including at Parliament, is urging the National-led Government to ensure Parliament’s cleaners continue to receive at least the Living Wage, with the news today that Parliamentary Services is required to make budget cuts.

The cleaners are employed by OCS Limited, a large commercial cleaning company who are required to pay their workers at Parliament at least the Living Wage rate as part of their contract with Parliamentary Services.

The Living Wage was won by Parliament’s cleaners under the previous Government, honouring a commitment made by the Labour Party in the 2017 election campaign.

A cleaner at Parliament, who wishes to speak anonymously, says the Living Wage has been life changing.

“Getting the Living Wage makes a big difference to all of us,” they say.

“Our pay was just too low before, but I’ve been really happy with the raise. I can afford stuff for the kids and grandkids. With petrol money, car parking fees, and all costs going up, we need as much as we can get.”

The cleaner calls on the Prime Minister to step up for the cleaners at his workplace.

“He comes over to us and tells us we are doing a great job. Then they all go home to sleep, and we keep cleaning. We look after them, they need to look after us.”

E tū National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh says the Government must continue the work of the previous Government in maintaining and expanding the Living Wage in the public service.

“Service workers like cleaners and security guards were stuck on poverty wages for far too long,” Rachel says.

“There has been good progress for many over the last six years, with paying the Living Wage becoming a condition of procurement across different areas of the public service. The Government must keep this up.

“With the significant cuts the National-led Government is proposing across public sector spending, there is a real risk that the wages of workers employed by contractors could be on the chopping block. This is the same Government that wasted no time scrapping Fair Pay Agreements, which would have been the best chance in decades for these workers to get decent pay and conditions.

“The Government must commit to retaining the Living Wage, firstly for the cleaners at their very own workplace, but also for everyone who delivers these essential services across the public sector.”

ENDS

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Inflation data slows – slowing data shows need for continuing support for families

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

Information released today by Statistics New Zealand showed that the cost of living increased by 4.7% last year, said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “This new data should reinforce the need for Government to support middle and low income families who have struggled with cost of living over the past few years,” said Craig Renney.

“Inflation was being driven by some costs that are hard to avoid for many. This includes rent (up 4.5%), household energy (up 5.9%) Local Authority rates (up 9.6%). Insurance prices were up 11.9% annually, driven by 23% increases in dwelling and contents insurance, and 16.5% increases in vehicle insurance. Food prices fell quarterly, but are still 5.7% higher than a year ago – with bread, fruit, and groceries price increases all outpacing general inflation.

“We have not yet seen an anouncement on the Minimum Wage from the government, despite that normally happening in December. The Minimum Wage needs to increase by at least the cost of living to make sure that those on that wage don’t fall further behind.“Inflation is at its lowest rate for two years, and quarterly inflation is at 0.5%. This means that inflation over the past three months has been within the Reserve Bank target rate, reducing pressure on the Reserve Bank. New Zealand now has inflation below the OECD average of 5.4%, and around the same at that found in Australia at 4.7%.

“Inflation has also fallen from 7.2% to 4.7% without significant cuts to government spending, and on a quarterly basis is now within the the target range. Inflation doesn’t appear to have been driven by government spending in any significant way. Promises to reduce current inflation by cutting public spending should be treated with a high degree of caution. Instead those cuts will simply hurt those who use those services, with little or negative economic benefit overall,” said Renney.

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Exploited migrant employee felt like a prisoner

Source: Employment New Zealand

“I have never seen a jail, but I felt I was a prisoner. I was sorry I had ever come to New Zealand. It was a very emotional time and I just wanted to leave,” the now former employee said.

Now living in the North Island, the woman who did not want to be named, said she had worked for 50 to 60 hours a week as Assistant Manager at the Criterion Club in Alexandra between June 2019 and February 2020, but was only paid for 30 hours a week.

She usually worked six days a week. She said she felt trapped as she and her husband were living at the club as part of her employment agreement and had she resigned they would have had nowhere to live.

“My work situation had a negative effect on my family and social life. I just didn’t want to talk to anyone. I felt very sad.”

After nine months working for the business, the woman decided to resign. When she asked for her final holiday pay her employers kept making excuses about why they couldn’t pay. It was at that point that she approached the Labour Inspectorate for help.

The Inspectorate found 4S Hospitality Limited had kept falsified records that under-recorded the hours the complainant worked. The labour inspector investigating the case used external records from the EFTPOS provider, the electronic gaming machines and data from the TAB terminal at the venue to identify the true hours the complainant worked. As these breaches were serious the Labour Inspectorate took the complainant’s case to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).

The ERA accepted that the business had failed to keep accurate records for the time the woman worked there and that this resulted in her not being paid for every hour she worked and for some of her holiday entitlements. The Authority awarded the woman $14,770 in arrears for money she had earned but was not paid.

Penalties

The ERA ordered penalties of $24,000 against the company and $12,000 against Kuljinder Singh Sidhu who helped run the business and had hired the woman. The ERA found that even though Singh Sidhu did not own the business he knew the company was not recording all the time the complainant worked and was not complying with the relevant holiday pay requirements.

Half of the penalties are to be paid to the complainant. In total, together with wages arrears and interest, the amount due to the complainant is $34,270.

Simon Humphries, Head of Compliance and Enforcement, Labour Inspectorate, said exploitation of workers and causing their health and wellbeing to suffer was unacceptable and remained a concern. He hoped employers tempted to take unfair advantage of their employees would take note that worker exploitation would not be tolerated.

“It’s disheartening to see that this employee felt helpless and suffered the deliberate and systemic offending that her employer caused. As happened in this case, exploitative employers can expect to be heavily penalised for their wrongdoing.”

“Fortunately, the complainant in this case did the right thing by reporting the abuse and our team was able to help.”

The employee who is now more aware of her rights says “the support and advice I received from the Labour Inspectorate was wonderful. They helped me understand my rights. I would recommend that anyone who feels they are not being treated fairly at work to reach out to the Labour Inspectorate for help.”

“Doing so changed my life and I now love this country because they looked after me,” said the woman.

The Labour Inspectorate encourages anyone concerned about their employment situation or the situation of someone they know to phone MBIE’s service centre on 0800 20 90 20 where all concerns are handled in a safe environment.

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Working people fear for their future and New Zealand’s

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The sixth annual CTU Mood of the Workforce survey shows working people are very worried about their incomes and rights under the new Government and fear the country becoming more economically and racially divided.

Figures from the survey, which gathered 2000 responses in less than a week, show that more than two-thirds of working people feel that new Government’s policies will make it harder to meet cost of living pressures. More than three quarters of respondents believe that the new Government’s policies will make it harder to secure a fair pay rise.
 
Many respondents voiced concerns that the current government does not represent their interests with some respondents raising fears that economic and racial division will increase as a consequence.
 
CTU President Richard Wagstaff says the results show working people are feeling insecure at work. “The feedback from this year’s survey is that many people are worried about the future of their jobs and well-being of their families.
 
“It’s clear the rushed and backwards looking repeal of employment legislation passed without consultation has signalled to working people that the Government does not care about their interests or the interests of most New Zealanders.
 
“These concerns are held across all age and gender cohorts in the results and are consistent across union members and non-union members.
 
“Both the survey responses and the comments indicate that many people feel they have fallen behind in the past year and that they expect this to get worse.
 
“Reading through the hundreds of comments it’s clear that people want real change in New Zealand’s political and economic direction toward increased fairness and investment in people and their futures. That’s something all parties, in government and opposition, need to listen to.”
 
The results of the survey are available here

The following is a selection of representative comments from the survey
 
Q: Do you have any further comments about the last 12 months of your work life?
 

  • work don’t even come out with enough money to relax always stress about work money cost of living is just ridiculous
  • Working harder and still struggling to meet every day basic costs.
  • We were lucky to have a significant pay rise a few months ago. If we hadn’t we’d have fallen well behind cost of living
  • The sheer amount of extra work with no possibility of paid overtime means I, and many colleagues, do free overtime because we care about our customers so much and don’t want to fail them-meanwhile no extra staff are hired in the areas that need the help. More recently, management ‘bullying’ and veiled threats to job security.
  • The repeal of Fair Pay Agreement legislation by the new government is a major blow to worker rights and fair pay. The living wage should be extended to all workers in the cleaning industry.
  • The last 12 months doesn’t cover the lasting effects of covid on my workplace. It has been 4 years. I am a cleaner in a hospital and when covid happened, the workload increased, the support decreased (our managers discovered they could give extra work to us over email), and despite our company earning billion dollar profits from their sites all over the world, we are still under-resourced.
  • The failure of getting pay equity resolved has meant no security with wage increases in my employment
  • The change in gvt has made the most difference . Felt like good faith bargaining and respect has gone no impartial gvt. Now its going through the motions. Don’t speak up to landlords ,bosses because unsure of outcome.
  • So much uncertainty, especially working for government. It has been super stressful
  • Our standard of living has definitely declined over time. We are now all working longer hours at the minimum pay rate as a flat rate. Every employer stresses a desire to improve health and safety and work conditions, but generally it is only a token nod and profit margins are paramount in employers consideration. As a result more and more employers are using backpackers and R.S.E. workers to the disadvantage of local people. Shops are closing their doors because local people have to cut back on spending thus on a wider scale our national economy is on a downward spiral.
  • Just a lot of uncertainty
  • Inflation has eaten away at any surplus income i used to have. We are a 2 income family and now we struggle. So unfair that we are left to fend for ourselves with the government taking more and more away rather than supporting / assisting us.
  • Job insecurity is always undermining satisfaction
  • Job insecurity has significantly increased and with it has come reduced opportunities to undertake certain work-related activities that strengthen my work, e.g. able to attend professional development opportunities. This is due to rising costs and increased debt for my organisation.
  • I work in mental health. I am concerned at the level of burnout I see in those around me, the growing number of vacancies that cannot be filled, the negative impacts this is having on those of us who are left and what all of this means for New Zealanders generally, given our country’s mental health crisis is steadily increasing
  • I am past retirement age and finding keeping up with work expectations is becoming harder. I would like to retire but cannot afford to do so, and I am not sure whether I will ever be in a position to retire.
  • Only pay rise is when minimum wage goes up
  • A recently negotiated collective agreement has led to a slowing of the erosion of our pay and conditions however our pay is still going backwards in real terms
  • I work in Australia under a collective agreement
    It’s not perfect and has been degraded over the last 5 years
    But still miles ahead of what we see in NZ
  • I think I’m doing better than a lot of people, even though things aren’t great for me. I’m really frightened about the changes that are happening, they are actively disempowering me and driving us back into low wage economy status, undoing all the steps that were being taken towards trying to encourage employers to invest to improve our productivity. It’s so discouraging.

 
Q: Do you have any further comments about the impact the new Government will have on work issues?

  • While it is still early days for this government, it appears that all the power has been given to the employer. The 90 day trial period supports those employers that have weak employment processes in place. It is like if they don’t know the calibre of the prospective new employee, then why hire in the first place.
  • I wish they would focus less on culture wars and more on equity across the board. E.g. the research on UBI has been clear for years. Comments like “bottom-feeders” worry me hugely; there’s no compassion or empathy for anyone less fortunate.
  • It feels like they are old school and not Interested in future proofing Aotearoa for the future generations!
  • I feel that ACT and NZF are playing a race card and pandering to a racist right ring and Christopher Luxon lacks the backbone to bite back
  • I am horrified at the changes they’ve made under urgency for the first 100 days. Abolishing fair pay agreements indicates they don’t care about workers, they’re trying to start a race war with their te Tiriti changes and I’m appalled at their racism. Tax cuts funded with smoking law repeals, are horrifying and will cost a lot of New Zealanders a lot of life, money and health in the long run.
  • We were all lied to regarding tax cuts. They are only going to landlords. Also axing smoke free legislation and opening up fossil fuel drilling shows that the Govt is bereft of principles and essentially corrupt
  • Yet again this government is so out of touch with working people
  • I think they don’t really care about low to middle income earners
  • Repeal of fair pay agreements is a horrible step backwards. It allows the most vulnerable workers to be exploited by bad faith employers.
  • Still waiting for the policies being rushed through parliament which will actually put more money in people’s back pockets.
  • They seem to be undoing a lot of the progress made over the last few years, in regard to worker’s rights and the environment.
  • To be fair it is early days, but it’s hard to see how the government’s proposals will actually help with the cost of living or improve the quality of life for regular New Zealanders. The culture war type rhetoric against Māori, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the LGBT community seem to be a distraction from this government’s lack of helpful policies for regular New Zealanders.
  • This is not the government for Aotearoa. It is a government for big business and corporations.
  • This Government, in a very short time, has proven to be the most divisive elected in New Zealand history. I fear for our nation’s future social cohesion and economic wellbeing.
  • They all used smoke and mirrors to cover their true agenda during election campaigning. They all pretended to be there for Joe Average, so far nothing in their 100 day plan is there to help Joe Average. The first 100 days goes to the already wealthy, or to undo years of progress.
  • Overall the new government has been unable to give many concrete answers as to their plans and the motivation behind them as well seemingly only enacting changes that will lead to worse outcomes for those less privileged and better outcomes for those already more privileged
  • It seems the coalition has delivered the worst of all 3 parties’ policies. There does not appear to be any “moderating” influence from NZFirst. Feels like we’re heading back to the dark ages where the privileged continue to reap benefits and unique place and contribution of tangata whenua is ignored or abused. So very sad.
  • I am worried for people already struggling in our community and fear it will only get worst under this government
  • A lot of short sighted decisions which will increase current cost of living crisis, not solve anything for ordinary New Zealanders
  • I am extremely concerned about the changes they are making to workers’ rights, and also about their highly racist policies that are sending us so far backwards in terms of the progress we have made in recent years. 

Commentary and notes on methodology
 
The sixth annual mood of the workforce survey was conducted between 3 January and 10 January, 2024 and had 1,990 recipients.
 
The survey is based on people who respond to an email to a random selection of 50,000 people from the CTU’s Together email list. This is a database of people we have had contact with over the last seven years via petitions, parliamentary submission calls, community events, and fundraising for community causes. They have given previous permission to be contacted by the CTU.
 
Reports from previous year’s surveys are available below:

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Worker nearly buried alive in trench collapse

Source: Worksafe New Zealand

A worker had to use his hands and a spade to dig his workmate free from 20 cubic metres of dirt when a trench they were excavating collapsed in the Waikato backblocks, in what WorkSafe says was a preventable incident.

Two workers were on the job at a farm near Te Kuiti in February 2021. One was operating a digger and the other was doing measurements inside the trench, which was three metres deep and two metres wide. When one of the side walls gave way, one of the workers was engulfed – leaving only the top of his head visible.

The rescuer initially used his hands to clear the dirt away so the victim could breathe, and then used a spade until he could pull him out. The victim suffered a collapsed lung, a broken rib cage, a broken sternum, and a broken collarbone. He now also lives with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of the incident.

The employer, R&L Drainage Limited, has now been sentenced for its health and safety failures.

A WorkSafe investigation found on-site safety was of an extremely poor standard. The trench had been built with a flat floor and steep vertical sides, rather than shored up with shields or battered into a safe slope to keep the sides stable. There had also not been any geotechnical assessment of the site to check the soil stability before work began.

R&L Drainage did not have a safe system of work in place for the job, and did not provide enough information, training, or supervision to protect workers from the risk of a trench collapse. The company also did not notify WorkSafe, as required for any excavation deeper than 1.5 metres and when a worker is intended to be in the trench.

“There’s a right way and a wrong way to do excavations – and cutting vertical sides to three metres deep then sending a worker in is certainly not the way. This was a death trap and the victim literally had to run for his life,” says WorkSafe’s area investigation manager, Paul West.

Although you might be working out of sight in a remote rural location, this should give you more reason than ever to play it safe and follow the well-established rules for this type of work.

“Anyone digging such a deep trench should be aware of the possibility of collapse and should take proper precautions. We know how to dig trenches safely – it’s not hard to take the necessary safety measures.

“While victims can heal from their physical injuries, the mental toll can have a long-lasting impact on individuals and whānau – as it has in this case. WorkSafe expects employers to look after both the physical and mental wellbeing of their workers in the aftermath of any workplace incident,” says Paul West.

Read more about excavation safety

Background

  • R&L Drainage was sentenced at Hamilton District Court on 11 January 2024.
  • A fine of $275,000 was imposed, and reparations of $45,000 ordered
  • R&L Drainage was charged under sections 36(1)(a) and 48(2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
    • Being a PCBU having a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers who work for the PCBU, while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking, namely excavating a trench, did fail to comply with that duty, and that failure exposed the workers to a risk of death or serious injury, arising from a trench collapse.
    • The maximum penalty is a fine not exceeding $1.5 million.
  • R&L Drainage was also charged under regulation 26(2) of the Health and Safety in Employment Regulations; and Schedule 1, clause 2(4) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
    • Being an employer which intended to commence notifiable work or any work that would at any time include any notifiable work, namely work in a trench in which any person is required to work in a space more than 1.5 metres deep and having a depth greater than the horizontal width at the top, did fail to lodge notice of that intention so far as was reasonably practicable.
    • The maximum penalty is a fine not exceeding $50,000.

Media contact details

For more information you can contact our Media Team using our media request form. Alternatively, you can:

Phone: 021 823 007 or

Email: media@worksafe.govt.nz

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90-day trial periods extended to include all employers

Source: Employment New Zealand

Previously, 90-day trial periods only applied to employers with fewer than 20 employees. This provision has been extended and is available to all employers.

Any employer can provide a new employee with an offer of employment which includes a trial period. A trial period must be agreed to by the employer and employee in writing, and in good faith, before the employee starts work, as part of an employment agreement.

There are a number of ‘must-dos’ in any employment relationship. The extension of 90-day trials will not affect other aspects of employment relations, such as the requirement to act in good faith, or worker protections regarding pay, conditions, leave, and health and safety.

Employer and employee must-dos

If employers are hiring people on certain work visas, they will also need to consider any immigration requirements relating to the use of trial periods.

For more information, see Trial periods.

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New requirements for employers under the Worker Protection Act

Source: Employment New Zealand

The Act is an important step in protecting the conditions of every employee in New Zealand.

An important employment law change is that employers who are unable to immediately comply with a Labour Inspector’s requirement to supply copies (or produce records for inspection) must meet this requirement within 10 working days.

Failure by the employer to supply the required records within the timeframe is an infringement offence.

A Labour Inspector can:

  • issue an infringement notice and a fee of $1,000 per offence, up to a maximum of $20,000 in infringement fees in a 3-month period, or
  • seek a penalty at the Employment Relations Authority for each breach of up to $10,000 for an individual or $20,000 against a company or corporate body.

The Act also allows people convicted of migrant exploitation or people trafficking to be disqualified from managing or directing a company. This will ensure that persons who leverage corporate structures to avoid consequences and detection will no longer be able to do so in that capacity and will help prevent that offending from reoccurring.

For more information on good record keeping, see Keeping accurate records

Immigration changes

The Act also brings changes to the Immigration Act 2009 that has impacts for employers hiring migrant workers.

For more information see: Immigration changes resulting from the Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Act – Immigration New Zealand (external link)

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Mini-Budget begs too many questions

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The mini-Budget released by the Coalition Government today leaves many questions unanswered, said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “Despite the Incoming Government calling for clarity on existing spending, the mini-Budget today does not provide any analysis of the tax cut or spending programme of the incoming Government.

“The Mini-Budget doesn’t provide any new analysis of the spending cuts being required of government departments, nor how they are to be achieved. It doesn’t provide a fiscal strategy. In short, New Zealanders will have to wait until May 2024 to understand what is being changed.

“The government is claiming that it is cutting $1.5 billion of spending per year. Of that $1.5 billion, a third are savings commitments made by the previous government. A further $0.4bn are cuts which have already been committed to funding Early Childcare support. So only $0.6bn of the $1.5bn is new. $1bn of immediate cuts is money that comes from reductions to the transport budget – which is paid for by fuel taxes.

“The Government has claimed that it is delivering fiscal responsibility, but in fact it has taken money from climate change to deliver tax cuts for landlords and it’s taking $676m from welfare payments.

“How will that help deliver the legislated child poverty targets, or make the cost of living easier for low income families?

“The announcements today leave much still to be explained. There appears to still be a debate within government about when key planks of the tax cut package will be delivered.

“There is nothing in this package to help with the cost of living. New Zealanders have to wait to find out what the plan is. The Government should be making this clear today.”

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The repeal of Fair Pay Agreements legislation

Source: Employment New Zealand

There are existing ways for employees, and unions representing their members, to bargain with employers for terms and conditions. These include:

  • If a union represents employees in a workplace, a collective agreement can be negotiated.
  • Employees, employers and unions must deal with each other at all times in good faith.
  • A collective agreement is approved and signed after collective bargaining between the union and the employer (or employers).
  • The agreement sets the terms and conditions of employment of union members who are employed by that employer (or employers) and are covered by the agreement.
  • Employees can choose whether or not to join a union.

Employees, unions, and employers are encouraged to work together to agree suitable employment terms.

Privacy obligations

Organisations who collect information for specific lawful purposes, such as Fair Pay Agreement application for initiation or bargaining, must ensure the information they hold is only used in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020.

If the purpose for using that information is no longer valid, the organisation must dispose of information safely, and securely.

Disposing of information and documents safely – Office of the Privacy Commissioner (external link)

With the Fair Pay Agreement Agreements legislation now repealed, any person or organisation that obtained personal information for the purpose of Fair Pay Agreement bargaining must now dispose of that information in line with the Privacy Act 2020 (Privacy Principle 9).

This means employers, unions, facilitators, and government agencies must securely delete personal information obtained for this purpose, with the only exception being where there is a separate lawful purpose for retaining it (for example if a person joined a union and their information is being retained for that purpose, or if Public Records Act requirements apply).

Anyone who thinks their information is being misused, or that their privacy is being breached by their information being passed on to third parties, can talk to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

For more information on your rights, and the obligations of those who collect your personal information, see the Office of the Privacy Commissioner website.

Office of the Privacy Commissioner (external link)

Find out more on the FPA repeal:

Fair Pay Agreements – Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (external link)