Unions

Engineering businesses warn any hit to KiwiRail's Hillside Engineering workshops will hurt Otago's economy as unions vow to stand alongside workers worried about their future.

Unions are vowing to continue the fight against an employment law change passed by Parliament last night.

The head of the company that produces Outrageous Fortune and Shortland Street believes the fallout over The Hobbit has made life difficult for actors Robyn Malcolm and Jennifer Ward-Lealand, who could now struggle to find acting work.

The Otago University Students Association executive has voted to seek downgraded "associate membership" of the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations (NZUSA), in a move which could badly damage the national student body.

About 200 people took a stand against proposed employment law changes in an enthusiastic protest in Dunedin on Saturday.

The Government has been wheeling out the hard issues in a non-election year, with the latest changes to employment law likely to spark the greatest debate. Business editor Dene Mackenzie reviews the changes.

Union leaders are warning of a campaign of industrial action and demonstrations as they prepare to take on the Government and its plans to change the country's employment laws.

Southern union leaders have cried foul over the National Government's far-reaching changes to employment law, calling some aspects an attack on fundamental human rights.

A Bill requiring unions to hold secret ballots before employee strikes will empower employers, union representatives say.

International Workers Memorial Day will be marked tomorrow as a time to remember workers who have died in the workplace in the previous year.