PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons (left) and New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters.
Photo: RNZ
Winston Peters’ public spat with two unions has gone up a notch, with the PSA and Workers First now writing to the Prime Minister.
Secretaries from both unions say the New Zealand First leader is being “wilfully misleading” and it was “unequivocably” untrue they hadn’t engaged with the party earlier.
They want Peters investigated for breaching the cabinet manual.
Peters responded on social media, saying the Unions had been “whinging” about being “called out” and then throwing an “unhinged tantrum,” criticising the unions for being out of touch with ordinary workers.
He included a screenshot of an email sent by the unions the day before the Employment Relations Amendment Bill was set to be debated at committee stage, highlighting his criticism from last week that “you don’t alert someone within 24 hours after these things have been going for months what your concerns are.”
It comes after both New Zealand First and the unions publicly attacked each other over the Employment Relations Bill, which passed last week.
Peters said he would have been able to stop the law removing the right for contractors to challenge their employment status if the unions had come to him earlier.
The Unions wrote to Christopher Luxon on Sunday, outlining their view that Peters was in breach of the cabinet manual by making, and then defending, statements that were “wilfully misleading.”
Those comments were the claim from Peters last week that he could have changed the law, and that New Zealand First was only alerted to unions’ concerns within 24 hours of the Bill going through the Committee stage in the House.
“This is unequivocably and demonstrably untrue,” the unions wrote, outlining again the series of meetings and interactions that had taken place between representatives for both the unions and New Zealand First, which RNZ reported last week.
Those engagements included at least 8 meetings between New Zealand First and Workers First union to discuss the Bill, the letter stated.
Beyond that, PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons had multiple meetings with New Zealand First representatives too, including with MP Mark Patterson
“Mr Patterson asked for possible amendments to take the harsh edges off the proposed legislation so on 10 February 2026 we sent him some suggested amendments New Zealand First could adopt,” in reference to the email sent the day before committee stage.
However, the unions had “engaged extensively with New Zealand First about the Employment Relations Amendment Bill, some months and years before Parliament considered the legislation” the letter stated.
Their concern was that Peters had “breached the expectations around “Conduct of Ministers” set out in paragraph 2.56 of the Cabinet Manual 2023:
In all of these roles [i.e., as per para 2.56, not only when acting in “in a ministerial capacity”, but also when acting “in a political capacity” or “in a personal capacity”] and at all times, Ministers are expected to act lawfully and behave in a way that upholds, and is seen to uphold, the highest ethical and behavioural standards. This includes exercising a professional approach and good judgement in their interactions with the public, staff, and officials, and in all their communications, personal and professional. Ultimately, all Ministers are accountable to the Prime Minister for their behaviour.
The unions asked Luxon to consider the matters and investigate their concerns.
On Monday, Peters posted on social media in response, including a screenshot of the email sent the day before the Bill was due at Committee Stage. He indicated all the unions were included in the email.
“Apparently both the PSA Union and Workers First Union have written to the Speaker whinging that I called them out for them demanding NZFirst make changes to the Employment Relations Bill just 24-hours before the committee stage debate in the House – and then them throwing an unhinged tantrum when they didn’t get their way,” Peters wrote.
A spokesperson for the PSA confirmed they had not written to the Speaker, only the Prime Minister.
Peter said the PSA and Workers First had made it clear the workers unions in the country “no longer represent ordinary, hard working blue-collar kiwis like they once did – they are now controlled by leftwing political agendas and arrogant elitist Labour Party sycophants with soft hands who live in leafy suburbs.”
“When the leaders of these unions are Labour Party candidates, sitting on Labour Party policy committees, run third party campaigns for the Labour Party in elections, and affiliated unions get a vote for the Labour Party leader, New Zealanders need to be asking what their true motivations are and who they truly work for.”
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister told RNZ the issue was a specific disagreement between two parties.
“The Prime Minister is satisfied that it is not a Cabinet Manual matter.”
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