New Pay Equity Law Locks Teachers Out Of Process

Clauses in the new pay equity legislation will make it impossible for teachers to progress a pay equity claim, says Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president.

“The new legislation has a far narrower set of possible male-dominated profession comparators that can be used to form the basis of a claim. Comparators must be from the same employer, or a similar employer or within the same industry or sector.

“However, the education sector is female-dominated, so the new legislation means that it will not be possible to find appropriate comparators for teachers. It effectively prevents teachers from making a claim. We have been locked out.

“Given that the teachers’ claim was the largest of the 33 existing claims under the regime, we can’t help but suspect that the new legislation has been designed deliberately to remove teachers from what could have been a potentially very costly process for the government.”

Chris Abercrombie said this was a profoundly shocking example of the lengths this government was prepared to go to, to avoid paying to address the just claims of workers in Aotearoa New Zealand.

“It’s gobsmacking that only two weeks ago the Minister of Education was saying how much the Government valued teachers by paying our practising fees, while this anti-teacher legislation was set to be steamrolled through Parliament. It is absolutely shameful.”

© Scoop Media