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An anti-90 day work trial scheme advertisement - Source: ONE News -
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A former pharmacy employee who said she lost her job as a direct result of the 90-day-trial employment law, is now appearing in an online campaign to push the unions' cause.
Heather Smith was employed at a Stokes Valley pharmacy for almost three years, but had to re-apply for her job after the business changed ownership. A few weeks later, she lost her job.
"It's like a big cloud hanging over you all the time because you don't know where you went wrong," she says in the video, which has been loaded on YouTube .
Smith said she still doesn't know the exact reasons she was let go.
"I don't know, not pretty enough. I have lost some of my confidence, it's put a lot of stress on me and my family."
The owners of the pharmacy concerned wouldn't comment, but Business New Zealand confirmed Smith's employment had been terminated under the 90-day trial law. Her case appeared in the Employment Court this week, and is awaiting judgment.
Smith's is one of several stories of heartache and misery being rolled out in the aggressive campaign against the government's new 90-day work trial scheme.
Currently the scheme is open only to businesses with fewer than 20 staff, but this week the government confirmed that the 90-day probation period would be extended to all companies.
Unions have been vocal about criticising the law, leading Prime Minister John Key to call on them to either "put up or shut up".
Now they are answering that challenge, by naming and shaming businesses that they say use the probation period to get rid of workers.
Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly said businesses that had a problem with the campaign should raise it at the highest level.
"The Prime Minister said 'name and shame' and if any employers have got a problem with what we're doing, they can talk to him about that."
However Key said the unions "have their own beef," and that for the "one or two people they might showcase, there are hundreds of New Zealanders currently in work, as a result of the policy."
Meanwhile, the unions say the online campaign is just part of their ongoing protest - marches are planned throughout the country next weekend.
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