The Council of Trade Unions is calling for worker representation on the board of a new Crown health and safety agency.
CTU president Helen Kelly. Photo: SUPPLIED
Worksafe New Zealand is being set up under legislation that will also change the mine safety regime following the Pike River disaster in which 29 men were killed in 2010.
Parliament's Transport and Industrial Relations Committee heard submissions on the bill on Thursday, which currently says that the new agency's board must regard the perspective of workers.
But CTU president Helen Kelly told the committee that workers need to be represented on it.
She says until New Zealand faces up to the reality that it is working people who get hurt on the job and that they have an absolute interest in health and safety, then there won't be any improvement.
Ms Kelly says business is compromised over health and safety because of its economic bottom line.
