Both the Greens and Labour have said they won’t allow National’s 90-day probation law to be used against any of the staff they employ.
Unfortunately Parliamentary Services, under advice from the State Services Commission, has issued guidelines that the 90-day provision should apply to staff contracts. They government has been playing a double game on this issue. On the one hand, it was saying that employers and workers can negotiate whether to apply the 90-day provision, and then effectively ordered all state agencies to apply it.
The law allows employers to dismiss without reason any employee within the first 90 days, effectively taking away the rights of new workers, and undermining the unions. The Greens, Labour and the Maori Party all voted against the legislation, and now the Greens
along with Labour
are practicing what they preach.
It will be interesting to see what the other parties do!