See no evil

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, May 6th, 2009 - 12 comments
Categories: workers' rights - Tags:

see-no-evilThe Fire at Will law has been in place for two months. It’s still very early days but how is it going? Are workers being forced into 90-Day periods against their will? Are people being fired for no good reason? The government can’t tell us because it isn’t bothering to monitor its implementation and effects.

No Right Turn has all the details but it comes down to this – we won’t know if the law is being abused unless individual workers make a fuss. How many un-unionised workers are going to be willing to do that during a recession?

It’s convenient for the government. There will be no official statistics on the use and abuse of the Fire at Will law. This ‘see no evil’ government will be able claim that the detractors are wrong – there’s no official evidence of abuse, therefore it must not being happening.

[Update: if you or anyone you know is treated unfairly because of the Fire at Will law you can get help. The Council of Trade Unions has pledged to help anyone hurt by this law, union member or not. Go to http://fairness.org.nz/]

12 comments on “See no evil ”

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  1. lprent 1
    6 May 2009 at 10:22 am

    And Paula Bennett is going to ‘monitor’ the effect of the fire-at-will act – how? She promised it would happen. Looks like that was a vacuous promise.

  2. Jasper 2
    6 May 2009 at 10:35 am

    I’ve got a workmate who’s just been fired. The bosses are saying “she asked to leave” but we all know the truth…
    Management didn’t have a clue how to train someone new – instead they expected her to know immediately how to do a job after just 10 minutes of being shown on a computer screen.
    Totally unwarranted and unjustified dismissal in any case, but now, there’s no recourse – though possibly there will be with the two sides of the story going around the workplace.

    I heard somewhere that one of the unions wanted to know about all these instances, and they would go in to bat for the worker? Can someone fill me in?

  4. infused 4
    6 May 2009 at 11:06 am

    “Are workers being forced into 90-Day periods against their will?”

    How are they being forced to do anything? If you don’t like it, don’t take the job.

    • Eddie 4.1
      6 May 2009 at 11:09 am

      Yeah, because there’s endless options out there, eh infused?

      • Chess Player 4.1.1
        6 May 2009 at 11:59 am

        No, not endlesss options, but certainly way more options seem to appear, once a person gets past the mindset that they can have Rights without Responsibilities.

      • infused 4.1.2
        6 May 2009 at 1:37 pm

        There are heaps. I look after a lot of clients. Not one of them has imposed the 90 day trail. This is over multiple industries too.

  5. Eddie 5
    6 May 2009 at 12:13 pm

    But the Fire at Will law gives you no rights as an employee… grabbing at the old straws eh Chess player?

  6. Idiot/Savant 6
    6 May 2009 at 12:23 pm

    we won’t know if the law is being abused unless individual workers make a fuss.

    And given that they have no legal avenue in which to make a fuss, the law will look like it is not being abused regardless.

  7. Bill 7
    6 May 2009 at 5:57 pm

    Set up a ‘name and shame’ website. Promote it widely (if poss). List the companies that are using the 90 day bill and the number of workers they’ve used it against etc. Where the company is a retail outlet,encourage boycott.

    Or maybe the CTU could incorporate such a page on their site? ( Other parties can encourage boycott in that scenario)