Thousands protest against new employment laws

Workers gather at the Telstra Clear Events Centre in Manukau. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Six thousand workers packed a Manukau stadium today and spilled out into blustery sunshine to protest against new employment laws.

The turnout - the biggest of 28 rallies organised by the Council of Trade Unions around the country - fell short of organisers' predictions of 10,000, but was still high in recent historic terms.

Ninety buses brought workers from all over Auckland to hear a line-up of union leaders including Labour Party President Andrew little.

Chairs were cleared so that about 5000 could fit inside the Telstra Clear Events Centre. Several hundred more listened to loud speakers outside.

In Wellington, about 2000 to 3000 protesters attended a loud rally outside Parliament, supported by a number of MPs from the Labour and Green parties and the new Green mayor of Wellington, Celia Wade-Brown.

Unions that took part included the Engineering Print and Manufacturing Union, the Public Service Association, the Maritime Union, the Post Primary Teachers' Association and the Nurses Organisation.

CTU president Helen Kelly said the bills before the House represented an attack on workers' rights that the unions would fight for as long as it took too to have them repealed.

"It sends a very strong message that Government is unpopular with working people because of these changes, that working people are feeling the brunt of the recession, the brunt of the tax changes and now the brunt of their work rights. It can't go on and we'll resist it.

"We passed a resolution today ... they want the Government to know that these work changes are unfair.

"These work rights are very basic. A lunch break, a tea break, unfair dismissal."

Ms Kelly earlier told the rally that there other protests around the country including Gisborne and Tokoroa, where she joked it may have been "the biggest event in Tokoroa for a while".

The high turnouts at the rallies contrasted with a reported turnout of only 200 at an earlier rally in Queen St in August.

Otago University political scientist Brian Roper estimated that between 300,000 and 500,000 New Zealanders took part in protests against the Employment Contracts Act in 1991, still far more than today's turnout.

"The ECA constituted a qualitatively more serious attack on the organising and bargaining rights of trade unions, which was borne out by the devastating impact it had on union membership," he said.

But he said today's rallies might be seen by future historians as "the beginning of the end of the honeymoon period of this Government" as low income workers began to feel the impacts of this month's GST increase and the employment law changes.

"Once the majority of workers starts to become aware of the negative implications of these employment law changes, that is going to cause some concern and lead especially those workers who voted National in the last election to rethink that."

The proposed changes would extend the right to a 90-day trial period to all employers, require unions to get employers' consent to enter workplaces, let employers require a doctor's certificate for workers taking even one day's sick leave, and let workers trade in one week's annual holiday for cash.

- With Derek Cheng