Within days of officially becoming government National is planning to push though a law change that would allow employers of 20 or less people to hire and fire staff at will within their first 90 days of work. They have labeled this a “probation” period, something that already exists in employment law, what the new bill will do is remove the right for workers to appeal against unfair dismissal. This removal of workers rights seems to be so important it is going to be passed into law under urgency, meaning that the law will pass with minimal debate and members of the public and interest groups such as trade unions won’t have an opportunity to make submissions to a select committee.
According to political blog The Standard:

the question of whether to proceed with the bill under urgency was still being hotly debated within National’s caucus last night as some senior MPs are worried that the protests it would spark will end their honeymoon and help set a narrative of the National/Act government as hardline right.

The Council of Trade Unions have pointed out that the removal of the right to appeal against unfair dismissal in small businesses would affect workers in 97 percent of enterprises. They estimate about 108,000 workers are in their first 90 days of employment in such workplaces at any given time. It appears that the Unite union will be playing a leading roll in the fight back against this unfair law. They are saying that any worker can join Unite for $2 a week and get phone advice and back up where needed. If a worker is wrongly sacked during the 90 day period Unite will organise pickets in defence of jobs.