As the election approaches, working people want to know where parties stand on the issues that matter to them. The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi reached out to parties across the political spectrum and asked them 12 questions that workers told us were their priority this election year:
- Will you support higher wages by restoring Fair Pay Agreements in the first 100 days?
- Will you support women’s equality by restoring the pay equity system to its 2020 settings in the first 100 days?
- Will you protect safety on the job by repealing the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026 before it takes effect?
- Will you protect job security by abolishing 90-day trials?
- Will you protect workers by ending the mislabelling of employees as contractors?
- Will you protect workers’ rights by restoring the personal grievance system?
- Will you make it easier for workers to access unions by introducing automatic opt-out union membership?
- Will you protect workers’ holidays and sick leave by repealing the Employment Leave Act 2026 before it takes effect?
- Will you help address the cost of living by setting the minimum wage above inflation for the next 3 years?
- Will you commit to paying the living wage across all arms of government, including contractors?
- Will you support young families to thrive by extending the length and value of paid parental entitlements?
- Will you reduce migrant exploitation by ending employer bonding in our temporary work schemes?
National and ACT declined to answer questions on their industrial policy. The stances listed here instead reflect their public statements and legislative history. If any political parties feel that their policy has been incorrectly stated, we encourage them to reach out.
Print out scorecards for your friends, whānau and colleagues.
Fair Pay Agreements
Why this matters: New Zealand’s lack of industry-wide bargaining has trapped too many working people in low-wage industries. Restoring Fair Pay Agreements will allow unions and employers to lift minimum pay and conditions across sectors that need it the most.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
Pay equity
Why this matters: Many female-dominated occupations are still paid less than comparable work in male-dominated fields because of historic and ongoing undervaluation. Restoring the pay equity system would help address this by supporting settlements that properly value their work.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
Health and Safety
Why this matters: New Zealand’s record on workplace health and safety remains poor. The Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026 will make things even worse by reducing safety requirements for small businesses and deprioritizing harmful risks.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
90-day trials
Why this matters: 90-day trials do not increase hiring or opportunity, but they do diminish working people’s job security, especially young and low-income working people who are already more vulnerable at work.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
Contractors
Why this matters: The “gateway test” introduced by the coalition Government has removed the ability of some workers to challenge their employment status in court, leaving them vulnerable to sham contracting arrangements.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
Personal grievances
Why this matters: Personal grievance changes by this Government have weakened the system to favour employers, worsening the imbalance of power that exists in employment relationships.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
Opt-out union membership
Why this matters: Automatic, opt-out union membership helps workers exercise their right to union representation and protects them from employer pressure over whether to join a union or what employment terms and conditions to accept.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
Employment Leave Act
Why this matters: The Employment Leave Act will mean many working people receive less leave and are paid less while on leave. It will also make the system more complicated, encourage casualization, and disproportionately disadvantage women, Māori, Pasifika, young people, and migrant workers.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
Minimum wage
Why this matters: Since 2023 working people on the minimum wage have had three consecutive real-term pay cuts, meaning their wages are not keeping up with inflation during a cost-of-living crisis. Any further erosion of wages is unacceptable.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
Living wage
Why this matters: The living wage represents the pay which working people need to live with dignity. During a cost-of-living crisis the Government needs to lead the way by ensuring that everyone working for the government is paid enough to live on.
More information from Living Wage Aotearoa NZ.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
Paid parental leave
Why this matters: The cost of living is impacting many young families, and inadequate paid parental leave is only making this harder. Extended paid parental leave would support whānau in those crucial early stages of a child’s development.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
Migrant workers
Why this matters: Migrant bonding schemes are structural drivers of migrant labour exploitation. Migrants are coming to Aotearoa in search of a better life and opportunities to support their families; however, employer-bonding policy settings see many forced into low pay, exploitation, and living conditions that are crowded, unhealthy, and unsafe.
Sources for National and ACT‘s policy.
Print out a scorecard
Want to talk to your friends, whānau, and coworkers about the issues that matter to you this election? Print out our scorecards below:
Sources for National and ACT policy
These answers have been filled on the party’s behalf as they did not respond to questions on their industrial policy. Answers are based on the party’s voting record over the last term of government, policy statements, and other public comments made by members of the party.
National
Fair Pay Agreements: The National Party campaigned heavily against FPAs while in opposition and made repeal of Fair Pay Agreements in government an election commitment. The National-led coalition government repealed the Fair Pay Agreements Act on 14 December 2023, as part of its first raft of legislative changes, with the repeal formally taking effect on 20 December 2023. All National Party MPs voted in support of the Fair Pay Agreements Repeal Act.
Pay equity: Despite initially supporting the 2020 pay equity legislative changes while in opposition, the National Party supported the slashing of the pay equity system through the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025. This is indicated by released Cabinet documents and the party’s support of the Amendment Act. Based on National Party commitments to the new system there is no indication they would support the restoration of pay equity.
Health and Safety: The Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026 passed into law with the full support of the National Party. Health and safety reform was a commitment between the National Party and the ACT party in their coalition agreement. Some commentary from National’s Louise Upston that the amendments might not be perfect but is progress and that National could be open to changes if necessary, indicates a small openness to amendment (not repeal).
90-day trials: 90 day trials have been a long-standing policy commitment of the National Party. The current National-led government extended 90-day trials to businesses of all sizes in the Employment Relations (Trial Periods) Amendment Act 2023. All National MPs voted in favour of this Act, which was passed under urgency.
Contractors: The National-led Government introduced and supported the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026, which introduced a test to prevent some workers from challenging their employment classification and opens the door to widespread misclassification. No information can be found indicating that National wants to reverse this policy.
Personal grievances: The National-led Government introduced and supported the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026, which made significant changes to workers’ rights around personal grievances. All National MPs voted in favor of these changes. No information can be found that National would restore the personal grievance system to its pre-Amendment Act settings.
Opt-out union membership: The National-led Government introduced and supported the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026, which removed the 30-day rule (where workers joining a job covered by a collective agreement were put on the same terms and conditions for the first 30 days of employment).
Employment Leave Act: The National-led Government introduced and supported the Employment Leave Act, making significant negative changes to workers’ leave entitlements. All National MPs voted in support of the Act.
Minimum wage: The minimum wage has been cut in real terms for the past three years that National has led the Government. The minimum wage was cut in real terms by 2% in 2024, 1% in 2025, and 1.2% in 2026.
Despite this, the living wage requirement was not removed with Willis saying its inclusion was a misunderstanding. Currently the Living Wage requirement applies to public service department contracts for cleaning, catering and security services.
Paid parental leave: National have committed to extending paid parental leave to 27 weeks in 2027 if re-elected, and then to 30 weeks by 2029.
Migrant workers: Erica Stanford, the Minister of Immigration, has recently announced reforms to the RSE scheme that include making it easier for RSE workers to move between employers in certain circumstances. However, no public commitment has been made that National are committed to enabling migrant workers to effectively move between employers while in New Zealand.
ACT
Fair Pay Agreements: The ACT Party strongly opposed Fair Pay Agreements while in opposition, stating that they would repeal them in Government. They did this through Minister Brooke van Velden’s Fair Pay Agreement Repeal Act pushed through the House under urgency with no consultation, with all Act MPs voting in favour of repeal.
Pay equity: The ACT Party were the driving force behind the dismantling of the pay equity system through Minister van Velden’s Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 which all ACT MPs voted in support of. This legislative change was developed in secrecy and passed under urgency within 24 hours. The ACT Party framed this law change as Minister van Veldon saving the budget.
Health and Safety: Secured in the National-Act coalition agreement, these changes were driven by ACT Party’s Minister van Velden, with all ACT MPs voting in favour. Act Party leader David Seymour has since stated that ACT would refuse to sign up to a coalition that required a commitment to repealing the law.
90-day trials: ACT introduced legislation restoring 90-day trial periods for all employers, with the amending legislation, the Employment Relations (Trial Periods) Amendment Act 2023 being sponsored by Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden and all ACT MPs voting in support. Re-extension of 90-day trials to all businesses was also a coalition agreement between National and ACT.
Contractors: ACT led reforms regarding contractor status through the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026 sponsored by Minister van Velden. The legislation introduced a statutory contractor ‘gateway test’ designed by Uber to limit workers from being able to challenge their contractor status. All ACT MPs voted in support of the law change.
Personal grievances: Changing personal grievance settings was a coalition agreement between ACT and National. In government, ACT sponsored and supported the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026, which significantly restricted access to personal grievance remedies, weakened procedural requirements on employers in personal grievance processes, and introduced limits on unjustified dismissal claims for higher-income earners. All ACT MPs voted in favor of these law changes.
Opt-out union membership: The ACT party has made clear in a press release on the Green’s union opt-out policy that they do not support automatic union membership. They are also architects of removing the 30-day rule in government (which put new employees on a collective agreement if one existed on-site for 30 days) through the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026 which all ACT MPs voted in support of.
Employment Leave Act: The Employment Leave Act 2026, sponsored by Minister van Velden, was enacted by the current coalition government and will repeal the Holidays Act from August 2028. All ACT MPs voted in favor of this law.
Minimum wage: The ACT party is campaigning on freezing the minimum wage, and introducing a training wage for under-20-year-olds. In Government, ACT Party Minister Brooke van Velden (as the minister in charge of setting the minimum wage) has delivered 3 consecutive minimum wage increases below inflation.
Living wage: Given the ACT Party’s commitment to free market ideology and minimal government spending, it is difficult to see ACT supporting this policy. The ACT party was also noticeably missing from the recent Living Wage National Election Forum where political parties were being asked if they would commit to extending the living wage across the state sector if elected.
Paid parental leave: The ACT Party do not have any readily available policy on paid parental leave (PPL). There are comments attributable to the party that their preference is to increase flexibility over extension. ACT’s Minister van Velden in the lead up to the 2023 election said they did not support the extension to paid parental leave in reference to Labour party election policy to extend PPL. She went on to say that the preference was for increasing flexibility of use of PPL over increasing the length.
Migrant workers: There are some ACT Party statements that indicate they may be willing to end employer bonding in temporary work schemes. For instance, David Seymour has been publicly critical of employer bonding in work visas, and Parmjeet Parmar has supported flexibility for RSE workers to move between recognised employers. These statements should be read alongside the Party’s broader immigration policy.