National plans to introduce a sacking bill before Christmas. That would mean that employers with fewer than 20 staff could sack in the first 90 days of employment without legal recrimination.
National has its 90-day sacking bill on a list of legislation it wants passed in the next 100 days.
This bill is an overt attack on workers’ rights. Workers in small job sites currently enjoy few rights as they are mostly not unionised and the employers consequently have a great deal of power.
The CTU is responding with a petition and looking at putting adverts in the major newspapers. This falls well short of what is needed.
Direct action by workers is the way to respond to this attack.
Unite union is taking the lead by saying that any worker can join Unite for $2 a week and get phone advice and back up where needed. If workers are wrongly sacked in the 90 day period Unite will organise pickets in defence of these people. Any employer who sacks under this legislation could find themselves confronted by a rowdy picket line and Unite’s 20 foot rat.
Employers plainly want to put the pressure on workers; it’s time to push back.
Last time this 90 Day law was mooted, there was all sorts of shit talked about defending Labour’s “fair and ballanced” legislation.
In fact both new and older workers are sent down the road every day already and the Personal Grievance Proceedure is no guarantee even for those who know about it and take it up.
But the new 90 Day bill does make things worse than they are now. It shifts the goal posts to the right and encourages the employing class to strengthen their grip..
I think every organised job could and should use their collective power to oppose this anti worker law.
An organised job can meet and decide to declare their worksite a 90 Day Free Zone.
That means they tell the employer that any enactment of the new law will be met with collective ressistance, which could take various forms of action , ideally up to and including an illegal strike against the dismisal of a sacked new worker.
That tactic would build on the job solidarity and keep the initiative in the hands of the rank and file.
But surely National are just Labour Lite and had rejected the idea of attacking the working class?
When did we ever cease to depict Labour as an enemy of the working class, my anonymous friend?
National are NOT labour lite. Staying centre right was the tactic to pull votes from those disillusioned with Labour and those who wanted ‘change’ for changes’ sake.
I agree with Don about the bill. It is a blatant show of arrogance from the National party, and if it is so much ‘softer’ than the last time they tried to pass it, why is it being fast tracked so there can be no submissions from the public?
//But surely National are just Labour Lite and had rejected the idea of attacking the working class?//
Labour have a well trodden history in the last nine years of attacking the working class, working for families, the jobs jolt.