Prime Minister John Key made it clear yesterday employment relations and changes to the Resource Management Act were priorities for the newly elected Government.
Mr Newson told the Otago Daily Times Mr Key had the mandate to both push through with the Employment Relations Employment Amendment Bill and go further in the future in degrading workers' rights.
His largest concern was the proposed changes to collective bargaining, which would drive down the value of ''real wages'' - wages rises compared with inflation.
The Act now requires parties bargaining for a collective agreement to conclude an agreement unless there was genuine reason not to based on ''reasonable grounds''.
The Government says the law sets a high threshold which could encourage parties to continue to bargain when agreement was unlikely because they did not meet, or believed they did not meet, the threshold to cease bargaining.
The proposed changes were aimed to prevent bargaining becoming unnecessarily protracted and costly.
Mr Newson said the good-faith bargaining provisions were put in place to protect people after the extremes of the 1990s, when employers could refuse to engage or walk away from negotiations.
''Strong, militant strike options mean we can force employers back to the bargaining table, but we don't have that union power across the board. We need the ability to negotiate in a fair and reasonable way with fair and reasonable employers.''
Many people were already saying employers would not refuse to negotiate because they wanted to be fair, he said. However, the evidence of the 1990s showed that was exactly the way employers operated.
''Their actions are driven by business considerations - of course they will do it.''
The Bill proposes employers may opt out of bargaining for a multi-employer collective agreement (Meca), something the EPMU has used effectively for a long time.
Mr Newson said the second major concern from the union was the repealing of the 30-day rule for new employees who were not union members. The change would enable employers to offer individual terms and conditions less than those in the collective agreement.
''Under the 90-day trial period, new employees will be too scared to join the union. They will be told, `If you want the job, sign the individual [agreement]'.''
Asked about the proposed changes to rest and meal breaks, Mr Newson said he would be surprised if National pushed on with that part of the Bill.
The proposal was to allow an employer to impose restrictions on a worker's breaks where it was reasonable and necessary given the nature of the employee's work.
''I'm not naive enough to think they won't drop that to appear more reasonable on some of the more harsher measures.''
Mr Key had the political capital and mandate to take National in any direction he wanted on employment law, Mr Newson said.
The last government's hallmarks had been beneficiary bashing and union bashing - restricting the rights of unions.
''National will keep union bashing while it has the opportunity. That's what they are doing again,'' he said.
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said the Bill was designed to weaken the rights of workers, making it much harder to negotiate for better conditions and even removing the automatic right for workers to take a break.
