As 2026 begins, thousands of Wellington workers face a sharp and unsettling shift in job security. Within months, the Employment Relations Amendment Bill will become law, delivering the most significant rollback of worker protections in a generation and reshaping employment relationships across the capital.

Wellington is uniquely exposed. The city’s economy depends on public servants, health workers, council staff, educators and community sector employees. Many rely on collective agreements and long-standing grievance protections to maintain stability in an already fragile economic climate marked by high rents, mortgage pressure and limited job opportunities.

The new law weakens those protections at their core. Workers who are unfairly dismissed will lose access to proper remedies if an employer can argue the worker contributed in any way to the situation. Even a minor issue can eliminate compensation entirely. Reinstatement, long considered the primary remedy for unjust dismissal, will be effectively removed. For many Wellington workers, an unjust job loss could become permanent.

High-income earners are also stripped of rights. Employees earning more than $200,000 a year will no longer be able to bring a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal. In Wellington, this directly affects senior public servants, engineers, IT specialists and policy managers whose roles are often tied to shifting government priorities. Their employment can now end at an employer’s discretion.

Another major change removes automatic enrolment of new employees into collective agreements for their first 30 days. In a city where collective bargaining is common, new Wellington workers will be exposed to 90-day trial periods before fully understanding the protections available to them. This tilts power firmly toward employers from the outset.

The bill also allows employers to reclassify workers as contractors, removing access to sick leave, holiday pay and job security. The provision reflects lobbying by multinational ride-share companies such as Uber. Wellington’s growing gig workforce, from delivery drivers to digital freelancers, will feel this impact quickly.

The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi, representing more than 95,000 workers nationwide, has labelled the bill the most anti-worker law in decades. National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons warns it will make workers more vulnerable and embolden bad employers, while doing nothing to improve productivity or fairness.

This legislation follows a series of government decisions that have weakened worker rights. Thirty-three pay equity claims affecting over 150,000 women were cancelled. Fair Pay Agreements were scrapped. Ninety-day fire-at-will laws were reinstated. Sick leave entitlements for part-time workers face reduction. The minimum wage has risen just $1.25 an hour between 2024 and 2026, compared with $3.80 over the previous government’s last three years.

Worker representation was also removed from the WorkSafe board, ending a practice established after the Pike River Mine disaster.

For Wellington, the consequences extend beyond individual jobs. Increased insecurity means less spending, higher stress on families and greater pressure on social services. In an election year, this law draws a clear line. It raises a fundamental question for the capital’s workforce about who holds power at work, and whose interests government policy now serves.