Where was the labor movement?
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) proved reluctant to fight the Labour government’s efforts to weaken the traditional system of labor relations. The NZCTU supported the removal of compulsory arbitration for the settlement of awards on the grounds that, in return, it gained the legal right to strike for a new award. (However, while it is true that unions did not previously have this legal right, many did it anyway.) The NZCTU also supported the 1990 amendments to the LRA, on the basis that these concessions would satisfy employers and stop them from asking for more. That supposition proved incorrect. On December 19, 1991, the newly elected National Government announced the introduction of the Employment Contracts Bill as part of the Economic and Social Initiative Statement. The Statement also called for up to 25 percent cuts in social welfare benefits and reviews of all other education, health, housing and social expenditures. While community, church, unemployed and social
