Workplace law will go by mid-year says PM

The Employment Contracts Act will be repealed by the middle of next year, Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday.

She emerged from a meeting with Council of Trade Unions affiliates in Wellington saying she wanted it introduced no later than March next year.

She said she had thanked the unions for the tremendous support they had given Labour during the campaign.

"We were able to reach into many worksites because we had considerable assistance from affiliations organisations to the CTU."

The ECA will be replaced by an act that requires "good-faith bargaining", allowing multi-union and multi-employer bargaining.