E tū is slamming the Government’s announcement that it will make it harder for workers to claim pay equity, describing it as an attack on women and a green light to pay them less for work of equal value.
The changes, announced by Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden, will raise the bar for proving historical undervaluation in female-dominated workforces – cutting off current claims and making new ones near impossible.
Marianne Bishop, a retired residential aged care worker, says the move is a slap in the face to workers who have been fighting for fairness for years.
“I am absolutely disgusted. It makes me angry as a woman, and makes me feel like we’re going backwards,” Marianne says.
“We’ve been fighting for 13 years. To have the rug pulled out from underneath us now is unbelievable. We thought we were going to get there – this just removes our road to fairness.”
Marianne says the impact on the care sector will be severe.
“This will make it even harder to get people working in aged care. People won’t go the extra mile anymore – why would they, if they’re not going to get paid fairly? This announcement is terrible for women and families now and in the future.”
Tamara Baddeley, a home support worker, says the Government’s actions show total contempt for the workers who hold the care system together.
“This makes me feel f***ing angry. This Government is a nest of vipers – they speak with a forked tongue,” Tamara says.
“I challenge every single one of them to come and work with us. On our wages. Getting assaulted at work, paying for travel out of your own pocket. Then tell us why cutting off our pay equity claim is a good idea.”
“Our claim’s been sitting there for 1,040 days. Why the f*** are we still waiting?”
E tū National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh says the decision is cruel, ideological, and deeply anti-women.
“The Government is dismantling one of the most important tools for fixing gender-based pay discrimination,” Rachel says.
“These changes are not about evidence – they are about saving money by keeping women underpaid. It’s a disgraceful reversal of decades of hard-fought progress and an insult to the working women who carried this country through a pandemic.”
Rachel says workers will not stay silent.
“We won’t go back to the days where a woman’s work is automatically worth less just because it’s been done by women in the past. We’re not going to stand quietly while this Government rips up the rules and tells us to be grateful for whatever we get.”
“This is a line in the sand. And women across Aotearoa will fight this every step of the way.”
