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Source: ONE News -
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Labour MP Trevor Mallard says March 1 2009 is a sad day in the country's employment relations history as the government's controversial 90-day probation for new employees begins.
Mallard, spokesman for Labour, said the legislation was the latest chapter in (Prime Minister) John Key's short-sighted attempt to address the economic downturn.
"New Zealanders should not be fooled. National's attempt to try and sell this as a way to boost employment opportunities with small to medium sized businesses is a sham," he said.
The 90-day clause will make it far more difficult for small to medium businesses to attract skilled staff when they most needed them, he said.
Mallard says it will be one of the first laws to be scrapped when the party gets back into power.
He says the government's attempt to sell the scheme as boosting employment opportunities is a sham and it won't create a single job.
"It will mean people are taken on for 89 days and then fired, so someone else can be employed to do a low-skilled job," says Mallard.
The Labour Party is urging workers to look for employment with bigger firms, to avoid falling foul of the new 90-day probation period.
The legislation, passed by Parliament in December, is opposed by Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party and trade unions.
It gives businesses with fewer than 20 workers the right to sack a new employee during the probation period without risking a personal grievance case.
But Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson said earlier this week it will be a real boost for people on the margins of the workforce who needed an employer to give them a chance in a new job.
"In the current economic climate this will encourage small businesses to give a prospective employee a go without fear of costly and protracted legal proceedings if the relationship doesn't work out," she said.
"It must be remembered that a trial period is voluntary and can only be implemented if both the prospective employee and employer agree to it in writing."
Wilkinson said it relates only to personal grievances on the grounds of unjustified dismissal.
Other rights are retained so employees are still protected against discrimination, sexual and racial harassment, duress or unjustified action by an employer.
All the new provisions are fiercely debated in Parliament.
Opposition parties said the 90-day probation is a vicious assault on workers' rights and will give unscrupulous employers the ability to get rid of anyone for any reason without explanation.
MPs said young people, and particularly immigrants, will be exploited because many of them will be prepared to sign almost anything to get a job.
Mallard has called the measure "fire at will" legislation and says it's laughable for the government to claim the 90-day trial is voluntary.
He says employers will prepare contracts with probation clauses in them and it will be a matter of take it or leave it.
Mallard says it's a backwards step because employees who do not agree to a trial period will not be offered the job.
The government - which made an unsuccessful bid to get the law
through by using a member's bill while National was in opposition -
was determined to pass it and used its majority, with the ACT
Party, to vote it in.
