‘This helps make the struggle for pay equity real'
We were there to start hearing submissions from individuals and groups who had been denied the opportunity to do so when the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 was introduced and passed under urgency this year without a select committee process.
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a day ago
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United Nations Urged To Investigate New Zealand's Rollback On Women's Pay Equity Rights
The Pay Equity Coalition Aotearoa (PECA) has informed the Prime Minister and other relevant parties that it has made an urgent appeal to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to investigate what it calls a 'historic and deliberate regression' of women's economic and political rights in Aotearoa New Zealand. In a formal submission, PECA outlines how the Coalition Government's Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 has dismantled the country's pay equity system, cancelling 33 live claims covering more than 180,000 women, many of whom are low-paid essential workers in care, health, education, and public services. 'This is the most significant rollback of women's rights in over a generation,' said Dame Judy McGregor, speaking on behalf of the coalition. 'These changes breach New Zealand's obligations under CEDAW and other international human rights treaties. They were made without consultation, under urgency, and with no democratic process.' The submission reveals that $12.8 billion previously set aside to address pay equity claims has been diverted by the government for other budgetary purposes. At the same time, settled claims had their legally agreed review clauses removed, and women are now barred from raising new claims for a decade. Violation of International Human Rights The coalition argues that the government's actions breach Article 11 of CEDAW, which guarantees women the right to equal pay for work of equal value, as well as Article 2(3)(a) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which ensures access to effective legal remedies. 'What we are witnessing is state-sanctioned gender pay discrimination,' said McGregor. 'And there are now no domestic legal remedies left for many of these women. This is a full-scale retreat from fairness, accountability, and our international commitments.' Call for a UN Visit and Monitoring PECA has formally requested the Commission on the Status of Women to: • Conduct a country visit to hear directly from affected women, including Māori, Pacific, and migrant workers; • If a visit is not feasible, undertake a desk-based investigation and independent monitoring report; • Place New Zealand's regression on the international agenda to ensure accountability for the erosion of women's rights. 'New Zealand has been held up as a global leader in gender equality. That reputation is now at serious risk,' said McGregor. 'This government has not only abandoned its legal obligations — it has silenced the voices of women, ignored civil society, and turned its back on a generation of progress.' PECA's membership includes major trade unions and national women's organisations such as E Tū, NZNO, PSA, Aotearoa Women's Watch, YWCA Aotearoa, National Council of Women, and many others committed to gender equity. 'This is not just a domestic issue. The world is watching,' McGregor added. 'And we invite the international community to stand with New Zealand women in demanding that justice be restored.'
Newsroom
2 days ago
- Newsroom
‘This helps make the struggle for pay equity real'
Opinion: There was a sense of being present at a historic moment when we gathered on Monday at the National Library in Wellington to form the first people's select committee. We were there to start hearing submissions from individuals and groups who had been denied the opportunity to do so when the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 was introduced and passed under urgency this year without a select committee process.
Newsroom
3 days ago
- Newsroom
‘Turning women's wages into a political piggy bank'
It's a short walk from Parliament to the National Library – barely two minutes – but the journey comes with several reminders of the history of women's rights in New Zealand. Navigate a pedestrian crossing with a signal in the shape of famous suffragist Kate Sheppard, and you're greeted with a sign for the library's exhibition on the 1893 petition (spearheaded by Sheppard) that helped secure Kiwi women the right to vote. Little wonder then that the venue was chosen for the opening day of the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity. Made up of 10 female ex-MPs from four different parties, the group has come together to scrutinise the pay-equity changes rushed through under urgency by the coalition without any public input. As former Labour minister Nanaia Mahuta put it as she opened proceedings: 'We are here to do what the Government did not.' Perhaps wary of the wrath generated by the controversial changes, Mahuta asked submitters to refrain from making comments that 'may be defamatory of any individual'. She and the committee didn't need to worry, at least for the first day, with a surprisingly good-humoured mood among those gathered. Hugs, kisses and selfies were in plentiful supply as the (overwhelmingly female) crowd filtered into the room, while there were light moments throughout: 'These days, I pretend I'm retired,' former National MP and feminist scholar Marilyn Waring quipped as she introduced herself. Yet the subject at hand was undeniably heavy, with submitters expressing frustration at both the secretive and hasty nature of the Government's reforms and the real-world consequences for women being paid unfairly low wages. 'What was once a relatively straightforward, albeit occasionally lengthy road is now one filled with various potholes and roadblocks. The Government continues to insist it's a road, but it's not one that anyone can travel along anymore,' NZ Council of Trade Unions national secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges said. Ansell-Bridges said moving the threshold for claims from arguability to merit meant some would never get started – not because they lacked merit, but because the requirements could not be met unless the process was already underway, creating a Catch-22 situation. A workable and sustainable alternative to the existing pay-equity regime would have been celebrated by the Government, she said, the subject of public consultation and a full parliamentary process rather than rammed through overnight with no advance warning. 'It speaks to the shame felt by this Government, whose job it is to look after the interests of all New Zealanders, as they strip away half our population's access to the fundamental rights.' The financial cost of the changes goes beyond hypothetical foregone income in the future, too. Aged Care Association chief executive and former New Zealand First MP Tracey Martin said the sector had spent close to $500,000 in the last year gathering information for a care and support workers' pay equity claim, with much of the work done at the Government's request – even as it was working in secret to overhaul the regime. 'We invested significant time and resources only to find those efforts wasted – this breach of good faith will take some time and genuine effort on behalf of governments to repair,' Martin said. She painstakingly laid out the complex range of duties carried out by aged-care workers: clinical support and medical assistance, the administration of medication, nutritional care, using de-escalation techniques to manage agitation, providing companionship, and maintaining 'warmth and patience' even in challenging moments, to name just a few. 'It is complex, skilled, and physically and emotionally demanding work that requires ongoing training, professional resilience and unwavering commitment to quality of life for some of New Zealand's most vulnerable citizens … 'If you listen to the jobs that they do, the skills that they have, you could immediately go out yourself and find a male-dominated sector that is required to have the same skills and that could not be employed at the price that we are currently paying our carers – but we cannot do it if the Government washes its hands of its responsibilities.' Former Governor-General and High Court judge Dame Silvia Cartwright provided a legal view of the Government's changes, noting the retrospective nature of shutting down claims already underway went against principles of good law-making and could damage New Zealand's international reputation. Cartwright predicted 'significant amounts of litigation' related to the new law, while noting a number of appeal rights had been narrowed by the changes. 'I think that the courts, if they can get a case before them after getting through all the very many barriers, will do their best to make things fairer, but it's going to be very difficult.' Tony McCombs, the great-grandson of New Zealand's first woman MP Elizabeth McCombs. Photo: Sam Sachdeva Somewhat ironically, the loudest applause of the day went to one of the few men in the audience. Tony McCombs, the great-grandson of New Zealand's first woman MP Elizabeth McCombs, offered a scathing criticism of the Government as he reflected on his ancestor's legacy. 'In her maiden speech way back in 1933 she said, 'I wish to work for the women and children of this country, and I hope to see the day when women will receive equal pay for equal work' … 'If Elizabeth McCombs were here, she would rise with righteous rage and ask, 'How dare you? How dare you erase progress with the stroke of a pen? How dare you undo a century of struggle in a single vote? How dare you silence the voices of working women and call it reform?'' McCombs said he wanted his own daughter (also named Elizabeth, and working as an early childhood teacher) and granddaughters to live in a country where they were treated fairly and equally, 'not fighting the same battles over and over again'. 'These changes are not about fairness. They are not about sustainability. They are about saving money at the expense of those already underpaid, turning women's wages into a political piggy bank.' With the committee's hearings continuing until October, and over 1500 submissions received, such expressions of anger will hardly be unique – but will they change anything? Asked about the hearings on Monday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon indicated he had no regrets about the Government's decision, and no intention of reversing the changes. 'Look, I mean, I think we have canvassed this area at the time when we first talked about it, which is that we fundamentally feel the system got too broad, too loose, and, frankly, unworkable.' Asked by Newsroom what she hoped would come of the committee's work, Mahuta was non-committal. 'I think the Government's already reflecting on a process that has fallen short of keeping faith with women in the workforce – women who are doing very, very valuable work as teachers, as carers under some of the hardest conditions. 'So if they're not already reflecting on the process and what they might do, we're certainly listening to the people.' Barring a change of government at next year's election – and a change in law following it – providing the public with a sense of comfort in being heard may be all the group can hope for.
