Source: PSA
A new poll has revealed strong public opposition to the Government’s cancelling of pay equity claims and gutting of the Equal Pay Act, with voters signalling they could punish the Coalition parties at the ballot box for rushing through laws that make it harder for women to get fair pay.
The Horizon Research poll, released by the PSA and NZCTU, shows a net 159,860 of the coalition parties’ 2023 voters would be likely to change their party vote to parties in opposition to the rushed scrapping of pay equity claims and the new framework that makes it harder to lodge new claims.
Based on the 2023 results, this would result in a hung parliament. A further net 50,750 voters, for parties not in parliament, are also likely to change their votes in opposition to the policy. If they all switched to current parliamentary opposition parties the government could change. Current opposition parties would have 61 seats, current governing parties’ 59 seats.
“The Government thought it could get away with cancelling pay equity claims for more than 180,000 women under the cover of darkness, but New Zealanders aren’t buying it,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“This poll shows that New Zealanders see the Government actions for what they are: constitutional vandalism and wage theft, the Government has betrayed women.
“This isn’t just about the left being upset – 28% of those opposed to the changes voted for Coalition parties in 2023. The Government has alienated its own supporters with this covert attack on women.”
The cancelling of claims sparked widespread protest, and outrage across the political spectrum, triggering the People’s Select Committee on Pay Equity with members being former MPs drawn from the left and right.
“Whatever way you look at it, the Government has badly miscalculated,” said Fitzsimons. “This is a sizeable voting bloc. Half of respondents agree the changes will make it harder for women to seek fair pay, and nearly half say it will disproportionately harm women in female-dominated jobs.”
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges said: “The poll shows people are fast waking up to the fact that women have paid the price for the Government making its Budget numbers add up and plug the hole left by reckless tax cuts for the wealthy.
“The majority of poll respondents – 69% – thought the public should have had the opportunity to submit on these changes. Forty percent strongly agreed. This Government has ridden roughshod over democratic process and voters’ feelings, and now they’re facing the consequences.
“The Government gambled that people care more about saving money for high income and landlord tax cuts than paying women what they are worth. This poll shows that gamble has backfired badly.
“Women workers deserve fair pay and to have historical pay discrimination corrected. The public knows it, the evidence shows it, and come 2026, this Government will learn that undermining women’s rights comes at a political price,” said Ansell-Bridges.
