PSA Marches to Treasury to Protest Pay Gap

Monday, 11 May 2015, 2:11 pm
Article: Francis Cook

The Public Service Association today marched to the Treasury office in protest of the pay gap between male and female workers in the public sector.

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Crowd arrives at the Treasury

They brought two invoices totaling $294,827,136.00 representing the 14.1% pay gap between genders. PSA National Secretary, Erin Polaczuk, said women will be effectively working for free from May 11 to June 30 due to the pay gap.

Public servants were invited to sign the invoices outside the treasury office. They will be couriered to Bill English’s office this afternoon.

PSA media adviser, Asher Goldman, stated that the 2015 budget will be unlikely to herald any change in the pay gap which has remained stagnant since 2009.

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Erin Polaczuk addresses the protestors

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Erin Polaczuk addresses the protestors

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Public servants sign the invoices

Polaczuk addressed the gathered crowd stating the pay gap is “unacceptable.”

Goldman joked that he hoped the invoices would be paid within the next day or two.

According to the PSA, “women in the public sector are paid on average 14% less than men,” but the gap can much greater in certain departments. At the Ministry of Defence the gap can be as high as 42%.

ENDS

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Francis Cook

Reporter

Francis studied History, gaining a first class honours in 2014. He is interested in politics, music and popular culture. His thesis looked at nuclear themes in Japanese film history.

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