Wellington Mayoral candidate Andrew Little is today committing that if elected Mayor he will restore the rights of library assistants employed by the Wellington City Council so they can achieve pay equity.

Around 100 Council library assistants had been negotiating a pay equity deal with the Council until the Government extinguished their rights under urgency last month.

Andrew Little says the Council needs to do the right thing.

“I am calling on Wellington City Council to commit now to continuing pay equity negotiations for library assistants on the same basis as before the law change so they can achieve a settlement.

“If I’m elected Mayor and this hasn’t happened, I will use every lever I have to ensure the Council resumes pay equity negotiations in good faith and seeks a fair resolution.

“I’m aware the Council has held a commitment to reducing the gender pay gap for some time and committing to resuming the librarians’ pay equity claim will go a long way to fulfilling this.

“Library assistants do important work in our communities. This is a largely female workforce that is underpaid because of historic gender-based discrimination. They have been fighting for pay equity for years and were close to a settlement.

“What has been done to these library assistants is an injustice. There’s nothing the Council can do about the Government’s law change, but it does have the power to do the right thing with its own workforce.

“For me it’s a fundamental principle that if a promise is made it should be kept.”

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