Otago-Southland Employers Association chief executive John Scandrett and Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Christie welcomed the new legislation, believing that their members, and their employees, would all benefit from greater flexibility in employment law.
However, union leaders spoken to said the changes would create a backlash against the Government. The Council of Trade Unions vowed to keep up its campaign against what it saw as unfair and regressive employment laws.
The Government passed into law on Tuesday the Employment Relations Amendment Bill (No 2) and the Holidays Amendment Bill.
Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson said the two Bills improved the employment law framework by promoting greater clarity where required and increasing flexibility and choice for both employers and employees.
The major changes were: the extension of the 90-day trial period to all employers; a formula for calculating leave and holiday entitlements for those whose hours of work or pay varied was introduced; employees would be allowed to cash up a week of leave; and workers could transfer the observance of a public holiday to another day if they wished.
"The Holidays Act has long proved difficult for employers to interpret and the changes made provide more certainty and will reduce compliance costs," Ms Wilkinson said.
Mr Scandrett said the amendments were seen as reasonable and the association held the view that the changes would give a wider range of employers the ability and confidence to hire more staff.
"When small businesses were able to use the 90-day trial - and this has been in place for almost two years - we received positive feedback providing confirmation that employers had adopted a much stronger focus on hiring policies.
"In this part of the country, I think I can fairly say that, overall, employers and unions enjoy positive working relationships. There is a high level of goodwill apparent."
For those who believed that employers in Otago and Southland did not value their employees, during the past four months the association had seen a 308% increase from the previous corresponding period in employers investing in staff training and skills upgrading, he said.
Those employers saw the merits of supporting workers to develop their capabilities. That in turn anchored employee confidence around job security, Mr Scandrett said.
Mr Christie welcomed the 90-day trial period extension. No employer wanted to hire someone and then sack them after 89 days. The cost of recruitment and training was high and employers would not want to lay off someone at the last minute.
"They would only do it if they had cause for concern that the person was not right for the job. There are bad employers and bad employees and you need to have protection at both ends of the spectrum. But you cannot legislate just for that. You need legislation for the majority of good employers and employees to work with."
Cashing in the fourth week of holidays could also work in favour of Otago-Southland small businesses as they often had trouble covering for production when staff were away on holiday, Mr Christie said.
Untaken holidays were a huge liability on company balance sheets, but many employers and employees in the South had already privately negotiated the cashing in of untaken leave.
CTU president Helen Kelly said unions were not sitting back in defeat.
"We will continue to campaign against this Government's attack on worker rights and its continuing failure to take adequate action against unemployment.
"When 80% of New Zealanders agree that everyone should have the right to appeal against unfair dismissal, even within their first 90 days, you do not simply give up when the Government chooses to ignore them."
The Government had chosen to ignore all the best advice on both the Employment Relations Act and the Holidays Act and had listened only to business lobbies, she said.
Maritime Union general secretary Joe Fleetwood said the law changes made life harder and sucked more profit out of hard-pressed working people.
"On top of the GST hike on workers, unemployment, low wages, rewriting laws overnight for multinationals, and the continued attacks on the education system, the rot has set in for a National Government that has turned against the people."
The Maritime Union would be on the front line in fighting any laws that threatened the wellbeing of working people, he said.
That would mean ramping up an ongoing campaign against the Government and employers who used the new laws against workers.
As workers saw their workmates sacked for "stupid reasons" or no reasons under the 90-day "fire-at-will" law, then disquiet and concern would turn to anger, Mr Fleetwood said.
THE CHANGES
> 90-day trial extended to all employers;
> Employees can ask for a fourth week of leave to be cashed in but employers have the right to refuse;
> Formula for calculating leave and holiday entitlements for those whose hours or work or pay vary has been introduced;
> Public holiday observance can be transferred to another day by agreement. Change will not affect next year's clash when Anzac Day and Easter Monday fall on the same day.
