"It takes away the worker's rights to having a tea break ... it puts the power back in the hands of the employers.
"Nurses are already pushed to their limits and this will be another added impact."
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dave Burnett said the changes were not draconian and would ensure a fair process for both employees and employers.
"What it does is create an employment relations framework which hopefully creates more flexibility and fairness for both employees and employers when entering into good faith bargaining."
Changes meant employers could walk away from negotiating a collective agreement provided they had acted in good faith throughout the process.
"I think that's a good thing, no one wants strikes to go on forever and ever and not reach an agreement. No one really wins when that happens.
"With strike action, that's also balanced with a requirement for employers to give written notification of a lock out."
Flexibility with tea breaks worked both ways for employees and employers, Mr Burnett said.
"The changes are really just about increasing the balance and fairness in the bargaining environment and I think it does that fairly well across the spectrum for both parties."
Robert Reid, general secretary of First Union, said the new amendments were among a raft of changes introduced in recent years that were "turning things back" to the days of the Employment Contracts Act.
"In our view, almost all the amendments make it more difficult for workers and their unions to negotiate their wages and conditions and every amendment takes away rights workers have enjoyed in the past."
Mr Reid said planned changes to rest breaks were "mean spirited".
What the bill does
Collective bargaining
The current requirement as a duty of good faith on unions and employers to conclude a collective agreement unless there is a genuine reason not to will be removed. It will allow a party to the bargaining to get a declaration from the Employment Relations Authority that the bargaining had concluded. If it is so declared, industrial action or new bargaining can be initiated within 60 days.
Multi-Employer Collective agreements
At present if a workforce votes to be covered under a multi-employer collective agreement (MECA), the employer must join the negotiations. The bill will allow employers to opt out of a MECA but opponents say it will undermine the sort of bargaining that has set industry standards.
30-day protection
The bill removes the requirement to offer new employees at least the same terms and conditions for 30 days of employees doing the same work as those covered by a union, even if the new employee does not belong to a union.
Strikes and lockouts
The bill ends open-ended strikes or lock-outs. Any group of employees, not just certain essential industries as is the case now, will have to give written notice of industrial action which must include a start and finish date, likewise for lock-outs by employers. The new law also gives employers the power to deduct 10per cent of an employee's pay for partial strike action.
Rests and meal breaks
In 2008, minimum paid rest breaks and unpaid meal breaks were established in law. The new law removes the requirement to provide such breaks if restrictions are deemed reasonable and necessary having regard to the nature of the work, and employers would be required to provide a reasonable compensatory measure such as the equivalent time off.
Part 6A
At present, certain groups of vulnerable employees, such as cleaners, are protected when their work is about to be taken overdue to restructuring. They have the right to transfer to the new entity taking over their work and to bargain for redundancy or have it set by the Employment Relations Authority. Under the new law, any company with less than 20 employees will be exempt from 6A. At present the classes of employees with the 6A protections can be changed by regulation but the new law removes such flexibility and any alteration must be made by Parliament with a change to the act.
Flexible work hours
The current law allows employees with caring responsibilities to request flexible work arrangements every 12 months and requires the employer to respond within three months. The new law extends the right to any employee. There will be no limit on requests but the employer must respond within a month.
