Government steals $17 billion from women
Click the union names for events listings: NZCTU and E Tu.
The below is based on our May 7 newsletter, with updates re the People’s Select Committee.
May 6 was “a dark day for New Zealand women”, as Public Service Association national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said, with the government ramming through a major reversal of pay equity law gains for women. Pay equity is a core feminist goal that Auckland Women’s Centre has proactively fought for, for decades. But as The Spinoff reported: with virtually no warning, the government has extinguished all 33 active pay equity claims – covering health, education and local government (list here), and raised the bar significantly for future claims.
At the Herald, Thomas Coughlan wrote “bad lawmaking” has reversed more than a decade of pay equity gains: “It is deeply wrong that Parliament can take away that work in a matter of hours.” The move takes back $17 billion earmarked for wages and back-pay that will now not go to over 150,000 workers – mostly women – over the four next years. This money “saved” is actually money stolen from women and their colleagues.
This decision represents a devastating attack on women, particularly those already facing the largest pay gaps. Wāhine Māori already face a pay gap of 19% compared to Pākehā men; for Pacific women it’s 20.9%, and Asian women 18.2%. The impact will be felt most deeply by those who can least afford it. We agree with Greens co-leader Marama Davidson: this is “a politically violent act” towards women in paid work and – we would add – all women. It is an attack on our right to live free of discrimination.
And the fight back has begun. Unions organised rallies outside the electorate office of the Minister of Workplace Relations three days after the Act had passed under urgency; and in Wellington, crowds gathered to protest on Budget Day.
Pic credit: Labour spokesperson for women Carmel Sepuloni and others on the way to Brooke Van Velden’s office three days after the Act passed under urgency. Photo Credit: E Tū Union
Meanwhile, Te Kauae Kaimahi, the NZ Council of Trade Unions, immediately organised a petition “Protect Pay Equity – stop scrapping equal pay claims and law”. If you haven’t already, we urge you to sign it and share it, to show the electorate cares.
In addition – highlighting how extreme the Government’s actions are, in that its urgency was outside of political consensus – former MPs from across the political spectrum have come together to create an unofficial “People’s Select Committee” on pay equity. The group will hear submissions on the Equal Pay Amendment Bill 2025 with the aim of “adequate scrutiny of the regulatory, economic and social impacts of the Bill through consideration of evidence provided by those directly affected and the public” and aims to write its report before the end of the year.
The unofficial committee is headed by world-leading scholar of women’s labour, Prof Marilyn Waring (who entered parliament as a National party MP in 1975, aged 23) and includes her fellow former National MPs Jackie Blue, Jo Hayes and Belinda Vernon; former Labour MPs Nanaia Mahuta, Lianne Dalziel, Steve Chadwick and Lynne Pillay; former NZ First MP Ria Bond; and former Green MP Sue Bradford.
The group does not have any direct power over government policy, but public support for their activities will continue to add to political pressure and so we encourage anybody who has a story to tell, or a point of view, to consider writing a submission to the People’s Select Committee (Click here to make a submission by 31 July 2025). As always, they can be as short or as long as you wish. They will also hear oral submissions – we hope our guide to oral submissions will encourage you to give it a go!
Feature photo credit: E Tū Union