Sio Su'a William: Employment Relations Amendment Bill — In Committee Recommittal Third Reading 
Sio Su'a William: Employment Relations Amendment Bill — In Committee Recommittal Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:459] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Chair for the opportunity to take this call and I congratulate you on your elevation to the new office that you now hold. The title of the bill is the Employment Relations Amendment Bill and I say that title is very deceptive. The communities that are listening to this debate will be wondering what the big deal is and thinking this is simply just a minor adjustment to the Employment Relations Act. But the big deal is that this bill removes a basic and fundamental right that workers currently have. The sad thing is that 2 days ago we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and here we are under a National-ACT-Maori Government sending a message to the rest of the world that New Zealand no longer respects workers’ rights. That is the kind of message we are sending with this particular bill. 
Chris Tremain 
: What about all the other OECD countries in the world—they have sent that message as well have they? 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO 
: That is the kind of message we are sending I say to the junior whip. That is the kind of message we are sending to the rest of the world and that is quite sad. 
The Minister in the chair the Hon Kate Wilkinson has stated in a ministerial release that this bill is about opportunities. I ask opportunities for whom? How many opportunities will be created as a result of this bill? Sixteen thousand people lost their jobs a month ago. How many jobs will be created out of this bill? I ask whether the Minister can answer that question. How many jobs will this bill create? There is no response from the Minister. I say the only opportunity that will be created from this bill is the opportunity for unscrupulous employers to fire at will any new worker who comes on board. 
And here is the thing. I listened to the Speech from the Throne and there were nice words that came from there— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Inclusive Government. 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO 
: —inclusive Government mana-enhancing working relationships growth in our economy and higher incomes. How will this bill create all that when workers will have to compete for jobs? When workers compete for jobs in bad economic times it means that wages will go down. It means that wages will be driven down. This bill reminds me very much of the old National attitude and behaviour towards workers: attack the workers. 
But more particularly the Government is targeting under this legislation—and I quote from the press statement released by the Minister—long-term unemployed people young people people returning to work after absences for child rearing or sickness people with disabilities or mental illness migrants people with overseas qualifications and people with convictions. Those are young people who are fresh out of school and new to the job site. They do not have any rights under the Employment Relations Amendment Bill. Those are women returning to the workforce and new employees wanting to make ends meet. They lose their right to take a personal grievance under this law. Those are migrant workers Maori workers and Pacific workers and if the constituents of Mangere the community that I am proud to represent are listening to this debate they will say they are grateful they did not vote for a National-ACT Government. Those are the communities that this bill targets. 
I ask the Minister of Labour the Hon Kate Wilkinson how the rights of the people in those communities will be protected when they can be sacked for any reason without notice without explanation and without protection. I ask who will protect workers when an unscrupulous employer sacks them because they do not understand the language that is spoken by the workforce or because they wear a turban or because they pray in the bathroom or because the employer does not like the colour of their eyes?