Day: 6 October 2006

Free trade deal biggest threat to workers since Employment Contracts Act

The Mar­itime Union says the free trade deal with Chi­na is the biggest threat to work­ers in New Zealand since the intro­duc­tion of the Employ­ment Con­tracts Act in 1991.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says the impor­ta­tion of short-term, casu­al­ized skilled labour being paid the min­i­mum wage will be a dis­as­ter.

“This is obvi­ous­ly going to have a major and neg­a­tive effect on wages and con­di­tions in New Zealand.”