A government push to limit the use of 90-day trial periods to small businesses would better protect the rights of workers in Northland, the country's largest private sector union said.
The comments by E tu followed concerns by the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) about aspects of the government's Employment Relations Amendment Act introduced to Parliament in January.
Workplace Relations' Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said many of the changes in the Bill were focused on lifting wages through collective bargaining as pay rates were too low for many families to afford the basics.
"We will also reinstate key minimum standards and protections to employees, such as the right to prescribed meal and rest breaks and limiting the use of 90-day trial periods to businesses with fewer than 20 employees."
But the EMA has launched a national campaign asking the government to "Please Fix the Bill" by not imposing what it calls a raft of inflexible rules on employers and their workers.