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 
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SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 Three words came to mind as I listened to that speech made by Paula Bennett—humbug hogwash and poppycock. On the eve of Christmas and we have 14 days before Christmas Day when most families throughout this country are preparing themselves to find gifts and to celebrate the Christmas spirit of gifting to young people what do we have from the National-ACT-Maori Government? First there were tax increases for those on $44000 or less. Second there was the 50 percent reduction in the employer contribution to KiwiSaver. Now we have the “fire at will” bill. 
This bill will create a group of unscrupulous employers whose only desire is to abuse and make use of workers for 90 days then get rid of them. This bill will enable new workers to be sacked without reason without notice and without a written warning. Employers will be able to sack new workers and those workers will not be given the right of a personal grievance which is a right that they currently have. In short the bill will strip workers of the certainty and confidence in the workplace that they currently have. 
Those most affected are the vulnerable workers whom the Government is targeting. I say that the vulnerable workers whom the Government is targeting are generally Labour supporters. The Minister assumes that the working relationship in the workplace is equal—that both employer and employee are equal in the workplace. That is the situation that currently exists under the law that Labour put in place. But what will happen now? This new law will strip workers of their rights and it will undermine the relationship that currently exists. 
The most affected are the vulnerable. Sadly they are from my part of the world Mangere Manukau City Manurewa and Otahuhu. The Government is targeting young people and in that part of the world we have more young people than throughout the rest of New Zealand. Young people who are taking up a new job young people who are unfamiliar will be keen-as to take on new roles and they will be working hard to try to ensure that they keep them. What could happen to them? They could be sent a letter saying “Don’t come in on Monday” or they could receive a phone call—or they could be given not even a word. They will simply lose their jobs because that is what this law provides for. There can be no reason and no notice. They can work all they want for 90 days work hard but can lose their job at the flick of a finger from an unscrupulous employer. I say “unscrupulous employer” because not all employers are inclined towards what this bill will create. 
The other most vulnerable group that this bill targets is womenfolk—women who are coming back into the workforce and women who want to make ends meet and to contribute to the finances of their families. What happens if my sister or my aunt decides for some reason during the month that she is not able to go to work? She can be fired. That is what this bill provides for. What happens if during those 90 days she calls in sick or says she has to visit the local school because her child needs some support there and she cannot go to work on that day? She can be fired. That is what this bill provides for without any notice and without any ability or opportunity to put her case forward. 
Elderly folk will be targeted and they are being targeted under this law. What will happen to the elderly folk who want to come back to work and make a contribution to the economy if for some reason or other they have to visit the doctor go into hospital or need to go home and have a bit of a rest? What will happen to them within those 90 days? They will be fired at will. That is what this bill provides for. The most vulnerable in our communities those who are protected under the current legislation are being targeted and being stripped of their rights to be able to take a personal grievance if they feel they have been unjustly dismissed. I refer to migrant workers Maori and Pasifika workers. All of those workers the most vulnerable in our communities are being targeted. 
The Minister said that there will be opportunities. The only opportunity that I see being legislated for here is the opportunity to take away workers’ rights—to be able to sack a new worker without the employer taking responsibility for making a bad decision. That is what this bill provides for. It provides the opportunity for unscrupulous employers to undermine the union in the workplace. They can sack a worker within that period if that worker wants to join a union and if he or she wants to be able to meet with a union official. Employers can sack a worker for those reasons. 
I also feel that as more and more workplaces close and more people are unemployed as a result of the economic crisis that we are experiencing at the moment we will have a pool of unemployed workers competing for whatever these jobs might be. If they are competing for those jobs what will happen to them if after 90 days they have no guarantee of a permanent position? It means that some unscrupulous employer might say: “Look I will keep you on here if you are prepared to forgo some of your other conditions and terms.” That is a strong possibility under this legislation because this legislation creates fear and uncertainty and takes away the confidence of workers in the workplace. 
It is wrong for this Government to use the economic crisis as an excuse to take away the rights of workers. Workers want certainty in their employment relations and workers have fundamental rights that are enshrined in the United Nations declaration. They have rights to redress and this Government is stripping away the right to a personal grievance. The Minister also said that this bill will enable the creation of jobs. That is laughable I say to the Minister. This bill does not create a single job. It creates bad employers and bad business practice and it takes away personal grievance rights from the workers. During the Committee deliberations I asked the Minister how many jobs this bill will create. There was no answer. That was because that is not the intent of this legislation. The intent of this legislation is to fire at will the most vulnerable workers in our communities. 
The Minister said that employers and employees will maintain active relationships and subject themselves to mutual agreements. That is hogwash. In this competitive global economy the key issue facing our labour market now is how to attract new workers not how to sack them. It does not matter what they say about opportunities job creation and equality in the workplace. When people use words like that to cover up something my grandfather would say: “E fiu lava e u’u le tae pua’a e pipilo lava.” I will translate that for members. It means: “It doesn’t matter how much perfume you pour on pig shit it still stinks.” That is what this bill is about. It stinks. It stinks for our communities and it stinks for workers throughout New Zealand. 
The Government wants to take us back to the 1990s whereby workers are stripped of all rights in the workplace. With those words Labour strongly opposes this bill and will vote accordingly.