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September 13, 2013
No productivity or improvements in employment changes
Waatea Team
Posted On September 13, 2013
A leading Maori trade unionist says changes in employment law won’t bring the improvements in job numbers and productivity the Government promises.
Council of Trade Unions Maori vice president Syd Kepa made a submission to parliament’s transport and industrial relations committee this week.
He says there are 60,000 Maori members of unions affiliated to the CTU, many of whom are on collective agreements.
He says they will lose wages, conditions and any remaining job security.
"I don’t see nothing, nothing at all for productivity in these changes, particluarly when you are negotiating for about a 100 people, a collective agreement and the boss has the ability if he doesnt get what he wants to get up and walk away from collective bargaining, then what does that do for productivity," says Mr Kepa.
He says when National introduced the Employment Contracts Act in the 1990s it claimed it would make the labour market more efficient, but productivity has been on the decline ever since.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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