Van Velden pressures ERA to reduce worker compensation payments
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9:52 am, August 23rd, 2025 - 16 comments
Categories: act, Brooke van Velden, Economy, Unions, workers' rights -
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Brooke van Velden’s attack on workers rights and wages and conditions continues unabated. And the latest attack should, in a properly functioning democracy, see her removed as a Minister.
She recently announced the appointment of four new members to the Employment Relations Authority.
The Beehive press release makes much of her desire to achieve a “better balance a mix of public and private experience amongst members”. This is shorthand for pro employer appointments.
The appointees are all male and from the looks of it all pakeha. Van Velden is not bothered by pesky gender equity requirements.
In a statement to Business Desk she let it slip that she wanted the appointments to result in reduced awards for workers .
The PSA has responded by calling her out on her attack on the independence of the ERA.
From the PSA website:
Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden’s statement that she expects new Employment Relations Authority appointments to reduce compensation awards to workers is an outrageous breach of judicial independence, says the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
In an interview with BusinessDesk, Van Velden said she hoped new ERA appointees with private sector backgrounds would lead to smaller awards against businesses, citing concerns current members “believe that money grows on trees.”
“The Minister’s comments are deeply concerning and represent a direct attack on the independence of our judicial system,” PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said.
“ERA members are supposed to be impartial adjudicators who make decisions based on law and evidence, not political ideology or pressure from Ministers to favour one side over another.
“By publicly stating she expects these appointees to deliver outcomes favourable to employers, the Minister has compromised their independence before they’ve even started and politicised the ERA’s decision-making.
“How can workers have confidence they will get a fair hearing from the ERA when the Minister has already made clear what outcomes she expects?”
Her comments clearly breach the Cabinet Manual which states that Ministers “must exercise judgement before commenting on matters before the courts or judicial decisions, whether generally, or in relation to the specifics of an individual case”.
Van Velden’s comments clearly breach this requirement. It is clear that she wants to engage in a US Republican style drama where judicial appointments are deeply political and the concept of Judicial Independence is superceded by the need to maximise political advantage.
New Zealand used to pride itself that its Judiciary was independent. If Van Velden and Co are allowed to continue with their culture war scorched earth approach this will be trashed.
This should bring action from our underperforming PM. He is Chair .
Upholding the Law should underpin Democracy.
Such an egregious breach of the Cabinet Manual should see her stood down.
The spineless wet bus ticket mob overseeing the dismantling of our rights will look the other way. Disgusting, and reporters should realise she is robbing them and others of their rights.
"This should bring action from our underperforming PM. He is Chair ."
But it won't. He won't risk losing the "baubles of office" by starting an argument with ACT.
What really amazes me is that we haven't seen any signs of real pushback from NZers.
I think it is a bit like when Rogernomics was introduced. Few people knew what it was all about or how it was going to affect them. It took time for the penny to drop, by which time it was too late.
It appears that with many the penny still hasn’t dropped or they may be too young to remember (who uses coins nowadays, anyway?). Rogernomics never really stopped or went away, it became BAU and status quo, and this Coalition is frantically working to make sure it becomes entrenched in our collective psyche and enshrined in our laws, policies, and regulations.
Oh it is happening, even discussing here the fact that both Left and Right will be given less than their rights by this move should put reporters on notice, next time they are at risk.
Brooke van Velden is a mommy-coddled entitled brat who should not even be a minister. She is around 30 years and has had little experience of the big wide world. She managed to acquire a couple of degrees but they are not always a testament to a person's professional fitness. I've met people with a university degree (or two) who were in reality as thick as two short planks.
The sooner she gets her come-uppance the better for the country.
What a total Bitch this woman is!!!
Yes a younger version of Louise Upston. Hon? Minister of Disabilities.
People less truculently ideological in the current Cabinet should have a good think about whether to let this stand, because if they do, it invites the next Labour-led government to stack the ERA with unionists and tell them it wants higher awards to workers.
The CTU has called for the PM to sack her for the reasons you outline and her serious judicial interference. They won't let this one go, believe me and none of us should. Add this to Judith Collin’s vengeful musings about the right to strike (already restricted anyway) and van Velden’s already implemented employment law changes and those coming up in Select Committee atm NZ will once again be an international pariah like it was under the ECA.
Another opportunity to see how owned luxon is as the coalition has divided up the portfolio's to conquer.
He will stay in his lane as the optics of what BVV is doing aligns with the coalition direction and bang on about how its not his fault its the agreement they made.
The dysfunction they present IMO comes from that as they dont seem to know where the next move is from their partner parties in this plunder.
Good on the CTU. Darien is there any way for us to support? Donation? Emails? sharing?
They know tc.
Remember "Luxon is aligned with Act,"
They promote the employer over employee, and they have been a dreadful employer of Government workers, sacking thousands.
Now they are removing the few protections left through her illegal stacking of a board and instructing them, against the Cabinet Manual.
Van Velden has already said she thinks we value life too highly.
This piece of nasty hubris is very bad and it reflects on our weak PM
Van Velden, just as her fellow travellers in the Coalition, thinks that politicians are above the judiciary and can therefore ignore accepted rules & norms as they wish with impudence. The same applies to media (journalists), science, and just about any institution of commonly accepted expertise and authority, be it formal and/or through a social contract that’s based on trust.
https://lawnews.nz/employment/employment-relations-minister-denies-she-works-for-uber-at-select-committee-hearing/
I find Brooke van Velden as scary a person as I used to find Gerry Wall. In their respective 'interests' (or impacts on all of us) of worker non rights and anti any abortion and their inability to see, at least publicly, a lesser or milder view. Such heavily and dogmatically wedded people. Also scary is that BvV is relatively young to be holding such ultra conservative views especially when her experience in the workplace seems to be lacking.
At the height of the abortion debate I saw Gerry Wall speaking a couple of times and he was similar. The inability to see that their stance may not be the only option is scary to watch. It actually should be a lesson to us all, they are little less than demagogues and we humans have given demagogues too much air time in the relatively recent past.
Yes Shanreagh, she comes across to me as cold as ice. Not a flicker of empathy in her body. She cares not for the plight of "ordinary" folk, and sees herself as a higher being than us mere mortals. Hence her claim in the debating chamber lauding her own strength. She's needs to be kicked out of the cabinet at the least.