Labour list MP Darien Fenton says proposed changes to New Zealand's employment law will blindside people if they do not get up to speed with how significant the changes are.
Ms Fenton, who is spokeswoman for labour issues, was in Tauranga yesterday to speak with hundreds of workers likely to be affected by upcoming changes in the Employment Relations Amendment Bill. She is on the select committee hearing the bill and spoke with meat workers, supermarket and railway workers and hospital kitchen staff in the Western Bay of Plenty.
The proposed changes are expected to remove collective bargaining, resulting in a weakening of unions. But the amendments would impact a much wider workforce, Ms Fenton said.
Collective bargaining helped set a benchmark for wages and without it, people would be poorly paid, she said.
Ms Fenton said unions were also important for collective agreements, which people benefited from regardless of whether they were union members. "The four weeks holiday a year is a really good example that would never have gotten into law if the unions had not fought for it. Forty per cent of the workforce is covered by collective agreements, or got the same terms and agreements that unions negotiated for."