Sue Moroney: Bill offers respite for workers

The Government has turned a "blind eye" to its own state-owned enterprise and let it deteriorate to this level. They have left towns like Huntly to the mercy of a failing economy. In politics, they say, timing is everything.

If that's true, then the timing of my new Bill being debated in Parliament during March is perfect - sadly.

My Bill gives working people redundancy protection and it has been drawn out of the ballot at a time when hundreds of redundancies are being announced every week.

Mainzeal, Telecom and Solid Energy have all made big redundancy announcements recently, and there is more to come. NZ Post redundancies will be announced later in the year.

Job losses of these scales hurt the entire community.

First, there are the immediate family members of the person who has been made redundant - the kids who can't afford school camp anymore, the grocery bills that have to be cut and doctors' appointments that are unaffordable.

There's the longer term stress on our hospitals, as more and more people turn up acutely unwell at the emergency department.

And there are all those local businesses relying on people spending their wages locally that take a big hit when large-scale redundancies happen; then, they in turn have to make staff redundant. It's a vicious cycle and another round of pain is happening in New Zealand right now.

I attended the most recent meeting of Huntly miners following Solid Energy announcements of its woes. If further redundancies happen in that town, it will be devastating for those miners and that community.

The Government has turned a "blind eye" to its own state-owned enterprise and let it deteriorate to this level. They have left towns like Huntly to the mercy of a failing economy.

While company directors, like Jenny Shipley, in Mainzeal's case, have walked away "scot free"it's the redundant workers who carry the cost.

My Bill will give some relief to redundant workers while they look for another job. And let's face it, you're a long time between jobs in New Zealand at the moment because there are just no new jobs.

I propose to ensure they get four weeks' notice of any impending redundancy and that they receive compensation if their job goes.

The payment is based on four weeks' pay for the first year of service with that employer and two weeks' pay for every other year with the maximum payment being 26 weeks.

The Bill has its first reading this month and I will ask all parties to support it.

It's about being fair to people when they lose their jobs through no fault of their own.