The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union says National and ACT's new Productivity Commission must include worker participation if it is to be taken seriously.

The commission was announced today and will be headed by up to four part-time commissioners.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says the commission risks irrelevance if it doesn't work cooperatively with workers and their unions.

"New Zealand business desperately needs a well thought through and sustainable approach to productivity but our fear is that Rodney Hide's commission will mimic the discredited ideas of the 2025 Taskforce.

"Workers won't engage if all they are faced with is a call to work harder while others get wealthier and if all they see is the gradual erosion of workers' rights and protections that has begun under this government.

"Unfortunately a lot of our business community still thinks productivity means making people work harder for less, despite the crippling long-term effect this has on families, on businesses and on the economy as a whole.

"We hope the commission will engage meaningfully with both workers and business, otherwise it risks being written off as irrelevant and ideologically driven."

The EPMU has a longstanding interest in productivity growth, and in 2008 set up the Centre for High Performance Work in conjunction with the Dairy Workers Union to get workers and their employers working together to improve workplace productivity.

For more information about the Centre visit www.chpw.org.nz.