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<\/p>\n\n NZI brokers face potential service disruption as Workers First Union members walk off the job at New Zealand\u2019s largest general insurer\n <\/p>\n
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Brokers who place business through NZI<\/a> or manage client portfolios underwritten by IAG<\/a>\u2019s retail brands face potential claims and servicing disruption after Workers First Union members began a 24-hour strike at the insurer\u2019s Auckland and Christchurch offices on Tuesday.<\/p>\n IAG employs 3,699 people in New Zealand and insures roughly one in two households nationally, according to its FY26 annual report filed with the NZX. Across its New Zealand brands, the company processed more than 500,000 claims and paid out more than NZ$2.24 billion in the year to June 2026.<\/p>\n NZI was named a 2026 5-Star Claims honouree by Insurance Business, based on broker ratings across service consistency and claims management. A prolonged dispute could test that track record.<\/p>\n Collective bargaining stalled for 18 months<\/p>\n The walkout follows more than 18 months of collective bargaining that has not produced a new agreement. The workers\u2019 collective agreement expired on March 31, 2025.<\/p>\n Pickets were held from noon to 2pm at 1 Fanshawe Street in Auckland and 14 Show Place in Christchurch, according to Scoop.<\/p>\n The two parties met with the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) in an attempt to resolve the impasse. According to Workers First, the union accepted the ERA\u2019s recommendation, but IAG rejected it four weeks later. The content of that recommendation has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n Workers First said it is willing to drop all other outstanding claims if IAG withdraws two proposals the union describes as \u201cclawbacks\u201d of existing conditions.<\/p>\n Read more: IAG New Zealand profit falls as commercial GWP declines for NZI<\/a><\/p>\n 90-day trial period at the centre of the dispute<\/p>\n The most prominent clawback is IAG\u2019s push to introduce a 90-day trial period for new employees. The Employment Relations (Trial Periods) Amendment Act 2023<\/a>, which took effect in December 2023, extended 90-day trial clauses to all employers. Under these provisions, new hires dismissed within the trial window cannot raise a personal grievance.<\/p>\n A separate Employment Relations Amendment Act<\/a> that came into force in February 2026 removed the requirement for new non-union employees to be employed on collective agreement terms for their first 30 days. Law firm Duncan Cotterill, which analysed the change, noted that employers can now negotiate individual terms \u2013 including 90-day trial periods \u2013 from the outset, even where a collective agreement exists. Duncan Cotterill also noted that trial periods are likely to continue being strictly interpreted by the courts.<\/p>\n Callum Francis, national organiser for finance at New Zealand-based Workers First, said \u201cthe company is desperately clinging to its right to sack people without consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n Francis said a 90-day trial \u201cmeans a new colleague can be dismissed with no reason given and no way to challenge it.\u201d<\/p>\n Political support for the strike<\/p>\n The New Zealand Alliance Party has publicly supported the striking workers. New Zealand Alliance Party Leader Victor Billot said IAG is seeking the ability to dismiss new workers without justification.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is exactly why we need a new government and new laws that will protect the working-class majority from arbitrary abuses of power,\u201d Billot said.<\/p>\n Read more: New Zealand general insurance market in extended soft phase<\/a><\/p>\n Workforce pressures across the insurance sector<\/p>\n The dispute sits within a wider pattern of workforce dissatisfaction across insurance in Australia and New Zealand. An Insurance Business survey published in July 2026 found that 46.10% of employees at top insurance employers said they were not consulted on benefits or working conditions in the past 12 months, up from 38.95% in 2024.<\/p>\n The same survey found 37.50% of respondents would change employers for better working conditions, the highest figure in three years of data.<\/p>\n