While it should come as no surprise, the lines pushed by Richard Long, on behalf of a few employers and the National Party, are simply idiotic.
Especially the one, “Candidates who have tatts, signs of gang connections, a jail background or police record, invariably fail to make it through the selection process.” Now, while I agree that this is a pity that the above folk have a harder time gaining meaningful employment, I do not see how reducing the rights of current employees will make the time of the aforementioned candidates any easier.
Employers are not stupid, generally. They will always want to employ the right person for the job, and of course, this means excluding candidates that they think will present more of a risk than a gain. Because the 90-day no fault-sacking legislation will not increase the amount of jobs available, how in reality will the now risky candidates, be any less risky? Long feigns to have sympathy for these workers, whilst knowing, that the proposed action taken by National will not make these people any more employable. The reason why these people don’t get jobs is generally because there is a better candidate.
In fact, the only reason why Long & Co. conceivably would want this legislation is so that when employers are forced to hire the workers, including those they [apparently] sympathise with, they can state that their period of employment is less than 90 days, renewed on a need basis, and perpetually have these workers dismissable for any reason.
So much for stability in employment. These people have lives, families, mortgages, hire purchases, and with ever higher prices for basic staples, e.g. fuel and food, they are forced even closer to the margin. So when an employee is dismissed, for example, stating that their actual pay rate is below what was agreed at the time of hiring, the employer can simply dismiss them.
This bill would also make it more difficult to change jobs, I mean, who in their right mind would give up stable employment, to seek new opportunities of higher pay and better conditions, if they were at risk of being sacked within 90 days?
This bill simply is a tool to further reduce the minute bargaining powers of workers and their representatives. It gives unreasonable power to employers, who whilst generally smart, many in fact lack a neccessary empathy for their staff. This bill simply is a tool to cut real wages, and will reduce labour flexbility in so how it can be a tool to benefit employees.
