Source: PSA
- Constitutional vandalism laid bare
The report of the People’s Select Committee on Pay Equity today is a damning indictment of the Government’s shameful actions in riding roughshod over the rule of law, bypassing democratic process and scrapping pay equity for more than 150,000 women.
“The fact that New Zealand women had to create their own select committee to be heard is a profound indictment of this government – they should be ashamed,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“This is a historic first for participatory democracy in Aotearoa and it only happened because the Government’s betrayal of women was so complete, so cynical, and so contemptuous of due process that workers had no other choice. New Zealand women will not forget that under the cover of darkness, with no prior signalling the Government cancelled pay equity claims and gutted the Equal Pay Act.
“The overwhelming response to this Committee, the volume and depth of submissions, tells you everything about the level of outrage and betrayal felt by women workers, their whānau and communities.
“The PSA represents members in 14 of the 33 cancelled claims, plus a further five claims due for review and two about to be raised. That’s more than 80,000 workers – people who show up every day to care for our most vulnerable. Their work affects every single New Zealander, and this Government is telling them their rights are expendable.
“The Committee has done what the Government should have done. It has listened. It has gathered evidence. It has produced a clear and damning record of this constitutional vandalism and it has confirmed what the PSA has said from the beginning: this was done in bad faith, to protect the Government from a future wage bill, and save its Budget, not in the interests of women or the public. We thank the former MP members of this Committee, they did the job this Government refused to do.
“The Government’s defence of its actions does not hold up to even basic scrutiny. The submissions prove it. The timeline proves it. The fact that union and employer groups were still meeting with the Minister of Health about the Care and Support Worker claim just days before the changes were announced proves it.
“Pay equity is not a privilege. It is a right. And this Government’s systematic attacks on working people, scrapping pay equity, suppressing minimum wage increases and now backing fire at will laws that make personal grievance claims far harder – will not be forgotten come the election in November.
“The PSA supports the Committee’s key recommendations and calls on the current Government and all opposition parties to commit to delivering genuine pay equity without delay. No more stalling. No more subterfuge. Women’s rights are not up for negotiation.”
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.
