Unfair dismissal, Justice dispute, Unions Local and Learning Reps
March 2010
Unfair dismissal rights under threat – make your voice count
Now the Government wants to review unfair dismissal law. After what they did bringing in the 90-day Fire at Will law you can bet there’s not much chance they want to make it better for workers.
Amongst the things they want to ‘look at’ are:
• restricting who can take a case for unfair dismissal
• what remedies would be available to you
• extending the 90 day period when workers in smaller workplaces have no right to appeal against unfair dismissal
• making it less important for employers to follow proper procedures.
All changes that will make it easier for bosses to fire you and harder for you to claim unfair dismissal and get decent compensation.
There’s little wrong with the system as it is – even the Department of Labour told the Government it was working well. Only 2% of people they surveyed had a problem with it. Yet again the Government wants to ‘fix’ something that isn’t broken.
And to cap it all they have given people less than a month to send in their comments. Make sure they get your side of the story. If you have experience of being unfairly sacked or even threatened with dismissal, especially where you haven’t had a fair chance to defend yourself, write down your story and send it to the Government before the end of March.
Contact your union to let them know your story. Alternatively, go to the DoL website and download the documents yourself and make a submission.
PSA Justice campaign
Ministry of Justice staff at courts, tribunals and other Ministry worksites throughout the country walked off the job on strike for 23 hours on March 1 and 2 in the latest action of a long running dispute.
“These workers are striking as part of on-going action to get the Ministry of Justice to negotiate a settlement of long standing pay issues,” said PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff. “We’re extremely disappointed the Ministry has not been prepared to respond to the Union’s proposals constructively and in a way that would enable the resumption of formal negotiations to settle the CA. Earlier the PSA was forced to take a case to the Employment Court when the Ministry of Justice unilaterally declared that bargaining was over. The Employment Court has now ruled that negotiations are not over and should resume.
The Ministry of Justice workers began taking industrial action in October last year because the Ministry would not address their pay problems. Members across the country have voted overwhelmingly to escalate the industrial action in support of a fair settlement.
You can support the campaign by sending a message to the Ministry of Justice urging them to reopen negotiations immediately. Follow this link to the Labourstart website and submit the form, either with the preset message or add your own.
For further information about the PSA’s campaign, including important guidelines for Ministry of Justice staff taking industrial action, go here.
Do you know about Unions Local?
If you are looking for a way of getting involved in campaign activity in your area you may like to know that there are 15 local affiliate councils (LACs), most of which meet at least once a month to discuss and plan local activity. Each LAC involves officials, delegates and ordinary members of unions affiliated to the CTU. They build cooperation on joint activities between unions and other political and community groups and develop communications networks to keep local activists and members informed.
LAC convenors recently got together in Wellington for a briefing day on Fairness at Work campaign issues and shared experience on what works for them in developing networks and involving members.
If you would like to get involved, or just be kept informed, contact your nearest LAC convenor from this list.
Learning Reps programme going from strength to strength
After successes in companies like Patience & Nicholson and organisations like IHC (IDEA Services) the programme is getting strong demand for training. We provide a good opportunity for unions to work with businesses to help members get ahead with recognised skills and industry qualifications.
Learning Reps is a way for unions to engage their members in upskilling and training. A key aspect of the programme is raising awareness of adult literacy and ensuring that workplace training meets the needs of workers.
The Learning Reps team is happy to meet with your union executive, staff, employers and members.
Please contact us for more information. (learningreps@nzctu.org.nz)
Forthcoming events
Click here for further information about events of interest over the next month.
Current vacancies
Click here for a list of current vacancies within New Zealand unions.
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