Say NO to the 90 Day Hire & Fire Act!

aotearoa / pacific islands | workplace struggles | policy statement Sunday February 15, 2009 11:07 by Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement - Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement

A flier produced by AWSM against the 90 Day Hire & Fire Act brought in by the New Zealand Government in late 2008. The legislation allows for workers in workplaces with under 20 employees to be fired for any reason (or no reason) within 90 days.

Download flier in .pdf format - http://www.awsm.org.nz/fliers/90dayleaflet.pdf (198kb)

Flier is formatted to be printed on double sided A5.

Say NO to the 90 Day Hire & Fire Act!

Text of the flier:

Say NO to the 90 Day Hire & Fire Act!

Workers in small businesses across the country are soon to be subject to new attacks on their rights at work.

The National Party’s 90 Day Hire And Fire Act which comes into effect in late March 2009 means that any worker at a business that employs under 20 workers (over 90% of worksites, over 30% of employed workers) can be fired without reason during the first 90 days of employment. The Council of Trade Unions estimates that approximately 100,000 people fall into this category at any one time.

While workers at larger worksites are currently not affected, the National Party has shown that it will likely seek to extend this law to all workers at some point and there is no doubt that the powerful business lobbies will be heavily pushing for this over the coming years.

Recent years have seen an increase in casualised labour, temp agencies and the like. The 90 Day Act simply takes these moves one step further in reducing job security. The message from the Government and employers is clear - we should be grateful for the jobs we have, and accept attacks without question or we will be fired.

In reality however, the capitalist system - the very system that organises the economy at the moment - is based on us workers selling our labour to the employers who make huge profits from our time and effort. And now, in times of economic crisis with diminishing profits, it is supposed to be the workers who pay for the bosses’ stuff-up!

We can resist attacks by taking collective action with our fellow workers. By linking together (in unions and in other groups) we can better focus our power and fight for better wages and conditions.

The only way to stop the 90 Day Act (and any future extensions of it) is by taking direct action, standing up with our workmates and supporting any and all victims of this new law. Employers that attempt to use this legislation must be targeted with pickets, slowdowns, work-to-rule and other forms of collective action in order to teach them a lesson - that it is workers who hold the power and when we act together we can and will win!

AWSM will stand alongside unions and other groups fighting against the 90 Day Act - get involved today!