E tū media release: Government strips workers’ leave rights, but workers can undo it in November
The Government has repealed the Holidays Act and replaced it with a law that will cut the pay of hundreds of thousands of workers when they take leave, but the changes do not take effect until 2028, giving workers the chance to elect a Government that will repeal it first.
The Employment Leave Act passed its third and final reading in Parliament last night. It shifts to counting leave in hours, changes how annual leave is paid, and swaps an alternative day off for working a public holiday for hours in lieu. It lands hardest on the lowest-paid workers, part-timers, casuals, and anyone whose income depends on overtime and irregular hours.
Lester Udy, head delegate at NZ Steel, says the law is an attack dressed up as tidying the books.
“This law is being sold as a simplification. It’s not. It’s an attack on workers’ rights.
“Right now, your annual leave is paid on your average earnings, because you can’t pick up overtime while you’re on leave. This law changes that, so the company gets the overtime you work to keep production going, then pays you less when you finally take leave to rest. That’s double dipping, plain and simple.
“It’s the same with ACC. Being on ACC is not a holiday. Most of us are already down to 80% of our pay while we recover, and now they’ve stopped your leave building up on top of that.
“We fought hard for these conditions and we earned them. This lot are stripping them away and tell us they’re doing us a favour.”
E tū National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh says the Government’s erosion of leave rights shows the importance of electing a worker-friendly Government in November.
“Brooke van Velden has spent months telling us this is simpler, fairer and more workable. The workers she’s talking about can read their own payslips, and they can see exactly who comes out worse off,” Rachel says.
“Van Velden’s handywork doesn’t take effect until 2028. She has spent two years telling employers they need time to prepare, and in doing so she’s given workers all the time they need to throw this law out before it ever touches a payslip.
“A new Government can repeal this before a single worker loses a cent. That is the choice in November, and workers won’t forget who tried to take their leave.”
This spiteful, vindictive ‘apology for a PM’ would rather take the whole RW out because no one wants Luxon as PM any longer. He is so past his use-by-date it’s unbelievable he is still in that position but only because no one has had the b&lls to remove him. This Act lands hardest on the lowest-paid workers, part-timers, casuals – in fact anyone whose income depends on overtime and irregular hours. This latest Holidays Act is yet another attack on our WORKERS’ RIGHTS! How come Luxon can’t get anything right? This surely makes his ‘brand’ of Christianity deplorable! Boringly, again and again, where is NZ’s media on this? Without TDB we would not know half of what is going on with this treacherous RW / CoC-up. There is so much repealing to be done after the election so let’s get STEP ONE correct first – get rid of this horrible, greedy, cruel rabble 7/11 – all of them!