PSA supports HRC’s moves on pay equity

The country’s biggest union, the PSA, says a proposed pay equity bill from the Human Rights Commission (HRC) is a good step towards closing the shameful gender pay gap that exists in both private and public workplaces.

The draft bill would end confidentiality agreements in contracts, meaning a woman doing the same work as a man would be entitled to know what he was paid.

The draft legislation also recommends that jobs are evaluated by using gender neutral evaluation tools that help ensure equal pay for equal work and work of equal value.

“These are practical, timely solutions to a systemic problem that has persisted for decades, not just in the public sector but in the wider economy,” says PSA National Secretary Brenda Pilott.

“Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) chief executive Alasdair Thompson caused a furore recently when he said women were less productive because of their periods, but in 1956 when the PSA was fighting the equal pay case of IRD worker Jean Parker, the Public Service Commission argued that equal pay for women would be unfair on men as family living standards would suffer.

“New Zealand’s first equal pay legislation came into force in 1960 in the form of the Government Service Equal Pay Act, yet more than 50 years on nearly a third of government departments have gender pay gaps above 20 percent and in one department, the New Zealand Defence Force, the gender pay gap is nearly 39 percent which is significantly higher than the national average gender pay gap of 12 percent.

“These are shameful statistics given that 59 percent of New Zealand’s public service workers are women. Clearly the legislation needs improving. While it recognises the right to equal pay it has not been successful in implementing it.

“Transparency on pay and equal pay for equal work and work of equal value will ensure that pay equity is carried out on the ground where it counts, not just in principle.

“Despite New Zealand being one of the first countries to advance the rights of women, present day workplaces do not reflect that proud history, this bill can help change that,” says Brenda Pilott

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