Source: PSA
Workers belonging to the Public Service Association and New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation alongside public supporters will rally in support of pay equity at Parliament this Monday.
Care and support worker Kate Halsall is bringing along a trolley of groceries to symbolise the earnings she is missing out on every week. On average, care and support workers have been missing out on $145.85 every week since their pay equity claim was cancelled.
“Groceries, warrants of fitness, absolutely everything is going up except my pay packet,” she says.
“I hear from my coworkers that everyone is constantly juggling their budgets. If there’s even one unexpected little hiccup, our whole budgets are blown. We do important, life-saving work – it’s so wrong that we’re not valued for the work we do.”
“Women have not forgotten the betrayal of the National-led Government when, under the cover of darkness, they cancelled pay equity claims and gutted the Equal Pay Act,” PSA National Secretary, Fleur Fitzsimons, says.
“As we saw in the People’s Select Committee report this week, the changes to pay equity that this Government made last year were an abhorrent abuse of power. New Zealanders value women’s work, and believe everyone in female-dominated sectors deserve to be paid fairly.
“This rally is part of a whole week of action in support of working women in the lead-up to International Women’s Day on 8 March.”
NZNO spokesperson and aged care health care assistant Lisa Marriner had her pay equity claim cancelled last year.
“It’s taken for granted that women in female-dominated sectors such as care and support are paid much less than men in other sectors,” she says.
“We are acutely aware we are undervalued compared to men. We know our value and how important our work is but it’s more than that. It’s actually not fair that a man with similar skills and experience to us in a male-dominated sector is paid much more than us because someone, somewhere decided their work is worth more than ours.
“That’s why we must keep speaking out. For ourselves, our colleagues, our daughters and our nieces.”
Rally details
What: Rally in support of pay equity and working women.
When: 12:00-12:30pm, Monday 2 March.
Where: Parliament Lawn.
Confirmed MPs in attendance include Labour MP Jan Tinetti.
The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.
