By Janika ter Ellen
Workers around the country turned out in protest against National's proposed changes to employment laws today.
Unions in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch all held rallies in the hope the Government will abandon plans to introduce the controversial legislation.
At first the Wellington march seemed more like a party than a protest involving 2000 workers, but when the talk turned to Government plans to limit unions' access to workplaces, the camaraderie turned to anger.
"That's a denial of the freedom of choice to belong to a union," says EPMU national secretary Andrew Little. "It's bad and it's wrong and we've got to stop it."
The Government wants to extend the 90-day probation period to all new workers, allow unions into the workplace only with the employer's permission and let workers cash in their fourth week's holiday for pay.
If passed, the changes could also require workers to produce a medical certificate after one day's sick leave.
Auckland's 600 protestors were just as angry and in Christchurch, Cathedral Square saw 400 impassioned workers.
The unions' campaign up until now has been heavily focused on the 90-day probation period, but today was about attacking the proposed changes as a whole.
"This government has declared war on the working poor," says Unite national secretary Matt McCarten, "and any self-respecting union has to fight it, and we will. We're going to fight it. No question. This is just a warm up."
The 90-day law passed its first reading in Parliament on Thursday, but Labour says it would be a disgrace if it made it to law and would disadvantage over 400,000 people starting new jobs every year.
"No one should be allowed to be sacked without a reason," says Labour's Phil Goff. "That's just fundamentally wrong."
National says the changes are fair, but unions say they won't give up until the Government does.
They say we'll be seeing a lot more protests.
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