Work rights protections for temp and casual workers

25 June, 2008

Employment protections for temporary and casual workers are to be strengthened under changes to the Employment Relations Act proposed by Labour and NZ First.

Under the changes the ERA will be amended to strengthen the rights of workers in a 'triangular' employment relationship. These are workers whose employer contracts their services to a third party like a labour-hire company.

Workers in this situation who join the union onsite will be entitled to terms and conditions at least as favourable as those enjoyed by unionised workers employed directly under a collective agreement.

This will be coupled with an awareness campaign to educate casual and temporary workers about their rights at work.

Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly welcomed the proposed changes. "The rights at work for casual workers are about to get better, and no party should stand it the way of this much needed law change," she said.

"There have been significant real improvements for workers in this country over the last 8 years but many of the new improvements have been denied to large numbers of workers because of the misuse by employers of casual employment relationships.

"There is an army of casual employees, often low paid workers, many of whom are totally insecure about their terms of employment, their hours of work, their entitlements to sick leave and holidays and their employment status in relation to any workplace problems.

"The changes announced today will be a real help for casual and temporary workers to get the rights at work that the rest of the workforce have won. The CTU has been involved in this process and are pleased with the outcomes, and we acknowledge NZ First deputy leader Peter Brown's strong advocacy for casual workers."

Helen Kelly challenged all political parties to support the changes or tell casual and temporary workers why they should go without their rights at work.