National shutting down access to equal pay

A draft National Party Bill will put more barriers in the way of women seeking to be paid fairly, the Green Party said today.

“This Bill will scrap the Equal Pay Act and in effect overturn the Terranova court ruling. That ruling established the right to look outside of the affected industry for a comparable job”, says Green Party women’s spokesperson Jan Logie.

“This means it will be harder for women to make a case for the gendered underpayment of work. The bill would deny other women the same access to justice as Kristine Bartlett - that’s a profound breach of trust and a filthy thing to do.”

“It looks like Government is hoping to slip this through under the cover of the pay offer for caregivers.”

“We should be progressing equal pay, not putting more barriers in the way of women seeking to be paid fairly. It's clear that this Government doesn't actually care about ensuring justice for women,” says Jan Logie.

The draft bill has been slammed by the CTU and the PSA and comes just two days after the National Government was trying to promote itself as a champion of equal pay.

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