Employers using Covid-19 as a chance to treat staff badly

Wednesday, 8 April 2020

OPINION: Well, that didn't take long. With the rest of the country looking out for each other despite the surreal lockdown situation we have found ourselves in, a lot of employers have decided that the real takeaway from Covid-19 is that employment law no longer matters.

We know this because we in the union movement started hearing horror stories pretty much straight away. By day two of the lockdown the CTU's Facebook page was flooded with people desperate to know their rights in the face of losing their jobs, having their holiday pay taken from them, and being exposed to this new and frightening disease without training or protective equipment.

There were, and are, simply too many questions to answer with the limited resource we had, so we put together broad advice in line with the law. 'No, your employer can't make you take annual leave and still work - that's theft'. 'No, your pay can't just be arbitrarily cut - that's illegal'.

'Yes, you can refuse to do work if you don't have protective equipment.' 'No, your employer can't take the wage subsidy and then sack you.'

* Employers unilaterally cutting pay during coronavirus lockdown are acting illegally

* Coronavirus: workers' rights and wage subsidy questions answered**

Fletcher Building announced it planned to cut the pay of 90 per cent of its workforce.

By day four we had an online register up and running for people to log their Covid-related employment issues. We figured we might not have resources to deal with each individual injustice right now, but we can make sure they are recorded. And when we see big systemic issues we can raise them with employers and government to get them fixed.

Melissa Ansell-Bridges: 'Within 24 hours of our online register we had more than 800 people log their issues.'

Within 24 hours of our online register we had more than 800 people log their issues. Where we saw patterns we were able to write a letter to an employer or raise the issue with a minister.

Government sharpened their messaging, we stopped several hundred people at a large retailer from losing their annual leave.

The next day Fletcher Building announced it planned to cut the pay of 90 per cent of its workforce. The way this was proposed is unlikely to fit the definition of a lawful negotiation, but it's going to be a while until there's a ruling on it. About the same time other construction companies effectively forced their staff to use their annual leave to get through the lockdown.

What's particularly galling is that these companies are likely to have their hands out for a big share of the tens of billions of dollars that will be spent on stimulating the economy after the lockdown lifts. Rest assured we'll be pushing the Government to make a strong history of social responsibility one of the key requirements for winning those contracts.

We've reached the 2000th employment issue logged with us now. To be fair, the bad behaviour isn't coming from the majority of employers. Those treating Covid as an opportunity to breach the law are a minority, albeit a big minority that's going to attract a huge number of personal grievances and investigations once the dust clears from this national emergency.

In the meantime, we'll just keep on logging these breaches and fixing them where we can. But we're also making sure that these working people's stories become a central part of the discussion of what our society and our economy looks like after this. There is going to be tens of billions of dollars of stimulus money pumped into our economy once this lockdown is over. That money could buttress the status quo, or it could be invested to make life better for all New Zealanders and their families. Watch this space.

Melissa Ansell-Bridges is secretary of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi