YOUR RIGHTS

If there is a hazard in your workplace you have the following rights:

• The right to refuse unsafe work
• The right to organise workers around the issue and take it up with the boss
• The right to ask a trained health & safety rep to take enforcement steps
• The right to contact a Worksafe Inspector
• The right to go on strike in some circumstances

Contact Worksafe on 0800 030 040 or visit the Worksafe website

Everyone has the right to decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. Unions ensure that, as a worker, your voice is heard, your views are respected and your rights under the law are upheld.

• Employees have the right to decide whether to join a union and, if so, which union. It is illegal for an employer (or anyone else) to put unreasonable pressure on an employee to not join a union.

• Once employees have joined a union, employers must, if asked, enter into bargaining for a collective agreement with that union.

• Unions exist for workers to support each other so that they don’t have to face problems on their own. When workers act together they have strength and safety in numbers and have a better chance of getting what they need at work and beyond.

• Unions are democratically run by their members. Union members elect union representatives (delegates) from workplaces, and make decisions on things like how the union is run, and what to focus on when negotiating with the employer.

Contact FIRST Union on 0800 863 477 or visit the FIRST Union website