Zero hours bill a sham – union
The government’s Employment Standards Bill does not abolish the punitive aspects of zero hour contracts but entrenches them, according to a major private sector union.
“The Workplace Relations Minister is making an art of the political U-turn. After promising to ban the punitive aspects of zero hour contracts, he is delivering a Bill that will entrench them,” says FIRST Union General Secretary Robert Reid.
“The government should ban practices like cancelling workers’ shifts on a whim. Instead the Bill entrenches the right to do so with only vague controls over when the power can be used.”
“Zer hour contracts play havoc with working peoples’ lives. We need certainty, not lazy law-making.”
“This issue is too big to get wrong. It’s estimated that there are 95,000 Kiwi workers with no regular working time. That means there could be 95,000 workers on some form of zero hour contract,” says Reid.
The final day for oral submissions on the Bill is today.
For further comment contact FIRST Union General Secretary Robert Reid: 021 535 933
