Logie JanJAN LOGIE (Green): E Te Mana Whakawā tēnā koe. So I've heard that the world is coming to an end that the sky is actually about to fall or if we are to really understate things that this Government is about to destroy our economy with a Draconian retraction of employment rights taking us right back to the 1970s and that we're all going to be forced to wear flares and get pet rocks! This Government apparently is so extreme. I can't believe that this Government is not listening to the National Party and those businesses raising concerns about the destruction of their livelihoods and all of the jobs! Tea breaks for workers not in emergency services? Union access to worksites? Making it easier for people to join a collective contract? Improved ability to negotiate collectively? Removing the 90-day trial for businesses with over 20 staff? Goodness me! No wonder the sky is going to fall! Holy moly this is out of control!If I sound slightly sarcastic it might be because I am being. All this legislation does is reinstate some of the statutory requirements that existed before the last Government removed them—ha ha! This morning to provide a bit of a balance to that narrative I was watching on RNZ one of the suffrage documentaries by Kathleen Winter sharing the experiences of some women working on the minimum wage in this country. They talked about working multiple jobs struggling to pay the bills seeing their kids for only a few hours a day and feeling as if they were being blamed personally when their kids got into trouble even though they actually had no ability to be there for the kids when they needed them because they were working three jobs just to have enough money to keep a roof over their heads.One woman talked about her brother dying and her jumping in the car to go to his tangi and running out of petrol and having to return home because she didn't have enough money as a full-time worker to be able to get to her own brother's funeral. That is the reality of thousands upon thousands of New Zealanders' lives in this country under the laws that that side of the House is so staunchly defending. What they are defending is the degradation of thousands of people in our country and I've got no truck with it. People who are saying that this legislation is extreme and that it's going to lose us jobs are just beating a drum that has created that inequality.I know most New Zealanders care about that inequality. They see the stories in the media. They see their neighbours their friends and their family members struggling and they want something else. They want better for themselves and for their families. That is why they voted for a change of Government because we can do better but it means stepping out of the way that things have been done for the last 10 years. Increasing the minimum wage will help but we also need to connect the dots around our employment legislation. We need to improve people's employment security and even up that imbalance between employers and their staff.We've got too many examples of people not getting even their legal entitlements because their employer either doesn't know them or thinks no one is watching. Even the International Monetary Fund has said that unions and their access to workplaces is essential in addressing inequality. Reduced union power: increased inequality. It's a global pattern. It's a key thing that we need to address if we are serious about addressing inequality and the Green Party is. We want to hear from workers like we want to hear from all the voices on this side of the House working towards a solution and we're pleased to support a Government that put this in the first 100-day work programme.