Union supports removal of trial period for Northland workers

E tu union Northland organiser Annie Tothill has welcomed a restriction on the 90-day trial period for employees. Photo/John Stone

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.

EMA CEO Kim Campbell said trial periods have given many employers the confidence to hire people without experience. Removing the right of businesses with more than 20 workers to hire people on trial periods would make it harder for young people to enter the workforce.

E tu Northland organiser Annie Tothill said the 90-day trial period should be completely removed as it took away workers of their rights.

"We call it 90-day fire at will. We've never opposed probation periods but the 90-day trial allows an employer to dismiss someone and not provide a reason.

"That person has no recourse unless he or she has been dismissed on grounds of discrimination. There are longer probationary periods in a lot of collective agreements, often three months, that's a proper period."

Tothill said while some employers were really good at recruiting workers, others did not give a second thought about hiring the right people.

A number of larger businesses, she said, engaged the services of a recruitment agency and after six months retained the best workers and culled the rest.

EMA said it was not against reform but did not want to see poorly-drafted legislation cobbled together in a hurried manner.