To: The House of Representatives

We the undersigned call on you to: 

• Reverse all claim cancellations by restoring existing pay equity claims – including for care and support workers, teachers, and library assistants. 
• Undo Equal Pay Act changes that make it impossible for people working in female-dominated professions to achieve and keep pay equity.
• Deliver pay equity settlements to every worker waiting for their claim. 

When nurses, teachers, midwives, and support workers are valued, our communities are healthier and more connected.  

But the National-led Government has gutted the Equal Pay Act. Their changes reverse decades of progress to balance pay for women and people of all genders working jobs that have been undervalued due to sexism. 

Without warning, the Government has: 

• Cancelled pay equity claims that promised better pay for tens of thousands of people.  

• Put up huge barriers to raise a new claim. 

• Withdrawn maintenance of settled claims – which will erode pay for people like nurses, midwives, hospital administrators, and Allied health workers. 

The changes entrench gender-based pay discrimination. They lock work that’s important to all of us – like care, education, administration – into being undervalued. They take money from the pockets of workers it’s promised to – who are mostly women, in low-paid mahi.  

People in Aotearoa believe everyone deserves fair reward for our work. In 2017 we celebrated proudly when Kristine Bartlett and the unions won an historic pay increase for care and support workers that defined pay equity in our country.  

Since then, over 150,000 people have had their lives transformed by pay equity – including social workers, school administrators, teacher aides, and more. Their settlements mean dental appointments, tamariki being able to go to school camp, or being able to keep going when the car breaks down. They mean being able to stay in these jobs long-term and be there for the whānau who need them.  

That’s why’re we’re calling on the Government to reverse these changes, and deliver full pay equity.  

Signed,

• New Zealand Council of Trade Unions | Te Kauae Kaimahi
• Association of Salaried Medical Specialists | Toi Mata Hauora
• Directors and Editors Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand
• E tū
• Equity New Zealand | Mana Taurite Aotearoa
• New Zealand Educational Institute | Te Riu Roa
• New Zealand Nurses Organisation | Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa
• New Zealand Writers Guild (NZWG) | Puni Taatuhi o Aotearoa
• NZCTU Komiti Pasefika
• NZ Post Primary Teachers Association Te Wehengarua
• NUPE
• Public Service Association | Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi
• Tertiary Education Union | Te Hautū Kaurangi
• Tertiary Institutes Allied Staff Association | Te Hononga
• Workers First Union

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