Thousands of New Zealand workers demonstrated Wednesday against plans by the centre-right government to change labour laws. The proposed changes would allow employers to dismiss new workers within 90 days without having to give a reason, let bosses demand a doctor's certificate for any sick leave, reduce meal breaks and restrict labour unions' access to workplaces.
Helen Kelly, president of the Council of Trade Unions, said workers were already bearing the brunt of a new 2.5-per-cent increase in the goods and services tax, to 15 per cent, and had received miserly tax cuts to compensate. "Now the government thinks it's OK to kick working people again with a raft of unfair workplace laws that remove the most basic of work rights and in the long term are aimed at wage reductions.
"We will keep on campaigning on these basic work rights until they are given back and are there for future generations of workers," she said. The council claimed that more than 15,000 workers had attended morning rallies throughout the country. "These policies are not only anti-worker, but anti-New Zealand as well, because the economic recovery of New Zealand depends upon hard-working Kiwis who are increasingly struggling to make ends meet," opposition Labour Party spokesman Trevor Mallard said.