Unions have and freely exercise the right to strike. Public sector unions, however, may not strike if work stoppages would threaten public safety. Legislation enacted in 1991 prohibits strikes designed to force an employer to become party to a multicompany contract. Workers are also barred from using secondary boycotts and striking to force up the minimum wage. The right of workers to organize and bargain collectively is provided by law and observed in practice in New Zealand and its dependencies.
Unions actively recruit members and engage in collective bargaining.
It also banned compulsory membership in labor unions, abolished the official registration of unions, and ended requirements that unions be of a minimum size. As a consequence of the act, unions now represent less than half of all wage earners, and no longer have an inherent right to represent any particular group of workers. Employers are free to choose with which and with how many bargaining agents they negotiate. Employment relationships are based on contracts negotiated either by individual employees or their bargaining agent, which may be a union, another voluntary association of workers, or a private consultant. Mediation and arbitration procedures are conducted independent of government control.