The Out@Work Council is meeting today to discuss key issues for glbt workers heading into the election. The Council of Trade Unions network was set up in 2000. Co-Convenor Karena Brown says this election is shaping up to being a very important election for workers in New Zealand with the current Government signalling even more changes to the Industrial Law covering all workers in New Zealand. "As an Out@Work Council we will be looking closely at the proposed changes to see how they will affect GLBTI workers throughout the country," she says. "We were very disappointed with the position of the Attorney General around including the specific coverage for our transgendered people within the Human Rights Act. The 90 day probationary period already hurts the most vulnerable by removing protection and then the requirement for a section of our society to have to argue discrimination on gender when the issue is much wider than that is a complete travesty." Brown says the Human Rights Commission identified that it was an area that needed to be fixed and it should have been. "We will be encouraging our members to look closely at how each political party has supported GLBTI rights and what the political parties propose to do if they are part of the 2011-14 Government."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 17th August 2011 - 9:48am