Government out of touch on employment rights

Government out of touch on employment rights

• June 24, 2025June 24, 2025

The commitment at the 113th International Labour Organization conference to develop a binding Convention for securing decent work in the platform economy shows how disconnected and out of touch the New Zealand government is when it comes to employment rights.

"This decision is a huge step towards establishing internationally recognised labour rights for digital platform workers," said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges.

"This is the mandate for much-needed regulation of digital labour platforms and by doing so, ensuring that innovation is not achieved at the expense of workers' rights.

"It's really telling, that while the international community comes together to support platform workers, Brooke van Velden has introduced a new Employment Relations Amendment Bill that will undermine the rights of those very workers in Aotearoa.

"Her Bill, which intends to misclassify workers as contractors and remove their legal right to challenge their employment status in court, is a severe undermining of worker rights. It is completely out of touch, and the Bill must be voted down", said Ansell-Bridges.