The Workplace Relations Minister's gone head to head with the country's main union -- over law changes around strikes

Brooke van Velden is changing employment legislation to let employers deduct pay from workers carrying out partial strike action.

She says it's done in Australia and the UK -- and this law will restore a balance widely accepted internationally.

But Council of Trade Unions Legal Officer, Gayaal Iddamalgoda says it moves towards undermining worker rights.

He says it doesn't balance industrial relations -- but instead subordinates workers and takes away their industrial power.