90 day ‘Fire at Will’ Act

Just days into the new Parliament and National has passed a law which allow employers to fire at will a worker in a workpalce of less than 20 employees in the first 90 days of employment. The TEU, along with all other New Zealand unions strongly opposes this new law.

It is a fundamental right to be treated fairly at work. But the government has amended employment law to deny that right to a group of workers on the arbitrary basis of the number of workers in a workplace, and with the entirely misplaced reasoning it will help some people get jobs.

Now the law sets up a group of workers who have less rights than others, and facilitates employers firing people without even having shown the courtesy of telling them what went wrong. In essence it treats workers as though they are disposable.

The less than 20 employee threshold means potentially a third of the New Zealand workforce is exposed. Seven hundred thousand people start a new job in New Zealand every year – the CTU estimates 108,000 workers are in their first 90 days of employment with a small employer right now – that’s more than the entire population of Taranaki.

The government has pushed this law through parliament before Christmas in two days flat – denying the chance for the public to have their say at the select committee. And there was no reason for the rush – the law doesn’t come into effect until March 2009.

Read more details from the CTU here or join the ‘Fire At Will Is Wrong’ Facebook group.