Submissions on the Employment Relations Bill No 2 need to be in by 13 September.
Some of the arguments relating to the bill include:
1.Extending the 90 day no-rights period to all workers in a new job. Removing the protection against unfair dismissal is unfair and unnecessary.
2.Lowering the standard for what a reasonable employer would be expected to do when dismissing or disciplining staff. The change from the word ‘would’ to ‘could’ greatly expands the range of circumstances where a dismissal is deemed to be justified.
3.Allowing people to be dismissed with an unfair process that may not give them a proper opportunity to explain or defend themselves.
4.Creating barriers to stop employees from having contact with a union when they want to do so.
5.Allowing employers greater scope to interfere with and disrupt collective bargaining negotiations by bypassing elected union representatives.
6.Allowing mediation where an employee doesn’t have a support person.
7.Taking the focus away from getting someone’s job back when it is found they have been unfairly dismissed.
More information is available at: fairness.org.nz/onlinesubmissioner
