Rushed changes to the Employment Relations Bill giving employers the ability to pay even lower wages are perplexing and unwarranted, according to one Labour MP.

Labour MP and spokesperson for labour issues, Darien Fenton, says the Employment Relations Amendment Bill currently before the Select Committee will give less rights to workers already facing the financial strain of low wages.

Labour's spokesperson for labour issues Darien Fenton at Merivale Primary School yesterday.

'Why is the Government doing this when they don't need to? Wages are already low in New Zealand and we have the lowest level of strikes we have ever had,” says Darien.

The Bill, put before Parliament by Tauranga MP and Minister of Labour, Simon Bridges, earlier this year, proposes to include improving workplace arrangements to lift productivity and create further jobs. The changes will also allow an extension of flexible work arrangements, partial pay reductions in cases of strike action and allow employers to opt out of multi-employer bargaining.

But Darien, who is engaging with and educating union workers in the Bay of Plenty for two days, says the proposed changes will have harmful effects on all workers.

'I'm trying to get the information to people so they understand there is a very significant piece of legislation being pushed through by your local minister Simon Bridges,” says Darien.

'That will have an impact on unionised workers and will have a flow on effect to all workers. Wage levels will be driven down.”

Yesterday, the Labour MP met with a variety of affected people including meat, rail and supermarket workers and members of the New Zealand Educational Institute as part of the brief visit to the region.

Speaking to SunLive ahead of her meeting with NZEI representatives, Darien is wary the amendments are creating a mountain of pressure on workers including employers' ability to walk away from collective bargaining – resulting in the possibility of job losses.

Darien says under the proposed changes an employer will be able to apply to the Employment Relations Authority for a declaration that bargaining has ended. If successful, workers will immediately be on individual contracts and outside the protections that collective bargaining provides.

Currently collective agreements continue for a year after their expiry and where this happens employers cannot attempt to convince workers to sign individual contracts.

'Under the proposed changes workers will not be able to bargain or strike for 60 days, leaving them exposed and vulnerable to pressure from an employer to agree to pay cuts and reductions in conditions on individual contracts.

'The most important thing for me is getting people up to speed; person by person, group by group. There have been 15,000 submissions on this but there are a lot of people who haven't heard about it.”