Unions say Winston Peters has breached Cabinet rules in attacking them over his failure to block Fire at Will / Uber Bill

PSA and Workers First Union write to PM urging him to investigate Winston Peters over false claims about unions

The PSA and Workers First Union have today written to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon alleging that New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters has made false claims in breach of the Cabinet Office Manual that the unions failed to consult with his party earlier enough in their efforts to get his party to vote against the Fire at Will / Uber Bill.

The unions have released their letter to the Prime Minister (attached) which sets out the facts of the lengthy attempts they made from 2024 to just days before the Bill was passed last week to persuade NZ First to vote against the most anti-worker Bill in decades.

Last week Winston Peters told RNZ NZ First could have stopped the Fire at Will / Uber Bill if unions had approached him earlier. The party failed to vote against the Employment Relations Amendment Bill or put forward any amendments to the Bill, which passed its Third Reading on Tuesday despite his party indicating 'tweaks' were coming during the Second Reading debate.

"Winston Peters and New Zealand First betrayed workers by voting for the most anti worker legislation in over 50 years and he had the gall to falsely blame unions for not engaging with him earlier. The facts are clear, as laid out in our letter to the Prime Minister - we had several constructive engagements with NZ First," said PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.

"We remain adamant that the facts were laid out to the party clearly, and early, but NZ First chose to side with ACT and National despite its claims to be a party that cares about workers," said Fitzsimons.

"Uber drivers and our union had many constructive meetings with New Zealand First over the last 18 months, and we warned them repeatedly of the damage that Brooke van Velden's law change would wreak on New Zealand. Winston Peters' false claims to the contrary show that he is full of hot air and should apologise for his untrue statements or front up to Uber drivers and explain himself," said Dennis Maga, General Secretary Workers First Union.

The unions say Mr Peters has clearly breached the Conduct of Ministers provisions in the Cabinet Manual, as set out in paragraph 2.56, which states that Ministers, at all times, including in their political capacity must uphold the 'highest ethical and behavioural standards'.

"As we say in the letter to the Prime Minister, 'we cannot accept that any reasonable interpretation of paragraph 2.56 would find that it is acceptable conduct for a Minister to wilfully misrepresent the facts in order to show others in an unfavourable light'. When Hon Judith Collins made inaccurate comments about teacher salaries, she appropriately corrected herself and apologised which is needed here too," said Fitzsimons.

"Unions need to have constructive relationships with all parties, no matter their colours, and at times we will disagree as we do over the Employment Relations Amendment Bill. But we can't abide a party leader, a senior Minister, and one as experienced as Mr Peters, deliberately misrepresenting the facts," said Dennis Maga.

"NZ First put the business interests of their coalition partners over the interests of workers in voting for this draconian Bill, despite our best efforts over many months to persuade NZ First to back workers, not the ACT Party.

"NZ First were more than capable of drafting their own amendments to the Bill since its introduction, and they have a taxpayer-funded Parliamentary office and policy unt and under their coalition agreements they could have and should have simply voted this exploitative law down," said Maga.

"We urge Christopher Luxon to take this matter seriously, meet with us and investigate Mr Peters over this clear breach of Cabinet rules. Truth must be the gold standard in modern politics," said Fleur Fitzsimons.