Latest news with #EqualPay
NZ Herald
18-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Employment law changes are a setback for NZ workers
Minister of Workplace Relations Brooke van Velden has her sights set on reforming the Health and Safety at Work Act. Photo / Marty Melville THREE KEY FACTS So many employment rights regressions, so little time. To start, this month the Government rammed through the Equal Pay Amendment Bill under urgency, gutting a law that helped women challenge entrenched pay discrimination. The new Equal Pay law reverses 2020 changes that streamlined
RNZ News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Pay equity issue will not go away
E tū union national secretary Rachel Mackintosh discusses the government's controversial Equal Pay Amendment Act that makes it harder for women-dominated workforces to achieve pay equity. Photo: Te Māngai Pāho Photo: NZ On Air Unions at the forefront of battling the government's decision to cancel 33 existing pay equity claims , and change the threshold for new claims, say the issue is not going away, and that in terms of a response "plans are developing". "We need to keep the momentum up on this issue because it's an outrage." Rachel Mackintosh from E tū Union told Mata with Mihingarangi they have had "massive support" and a "really wide response". It's coming from individuals such as a woman in her 80s protesting outside Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden's office who told Mackintosh: "I have not been on the streets for decades but this is making me incandescent with rage". But the battle was also getting support from industries dominated by men, Mackintosh said. "The miners have said if you need us down in Parliament with our high-vis jackets on to support the women who have suffered this insult, we are there." In a whirlwind 48 hours last week the law changed - without a select committee, any public meetings, opportunities for submissions or the usual processes law changes go through. Mackintosh said workers affected by the government's unexpected decision had reported "rage, disbelief, a deep feeling of insult, and of having something that felt as though it was within reach whipped away". "It's the difference between not being able to enrol your kids in sport, not being able to buy them a pair of shoes, choosing between paying your power bill and your rent." She agreed the process was a complex one, with "a whole lot of power and so on at play" but disagreed with the government's description of the legislation as "unfair, unaffordable and unworkable". "This government … recently wound up the Pay Equity Taskforce because they said it wasn't necessary because the system was working , that was just a few months ago, and now they say it's not working. "The attack on comparators is really an attack on the whole principle that work that is female-dominated is undervalued because of that reason." She said the system allowed claimants to compare the wages across industries and professions. "What you compare is the responsibility, the skill, the effort and the knowledge you need. "For care work one of the comparisons is prison guards, and so prison guards also deal with complex human interactions. They deal with violence as do care workers. They are responsible for people's safety as are care workers, and so it's these kinds of comparators … and that consideration of complex human interactions … skill and responsibility. It's not that the work is the same." The difference in pay between care workers and prison guards? Roughly 20 percent. "Actually what we concluded was that prison guards were also underpaid, because prison guards are paid less than fisheries officers." Mackintosh said that when it came to care workers "30 percent is the kind of average wrong pay that people are suffering at the moment, and that's after having got a boost in 2017 from the Kristine Bartlett case". Finance Minister Nicola Willis characterised the current regime as "a Trojan Horse for a multi-billion dollar grievance industry driven by public sector unions." Mackintosh said she found that description "so interesting". "What I immediately think of when I hear that is the 'Treaty Grievance Industry' - and the point about grievance is that it's about wrong and harm that has been done, and so to use that word as an insult is an insult. Because there is a grievance to have been undervalued … that people responsible for how much you get paid don't think it's important for you to have enough money to live on. If that's not a grievance I don't know what is."
RNZ News
14-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Lack of debate fans pay equity fury
Across the country, New Zealanders protested the rushed changes to the Equal Pay Amendment Act. The changes tighten up parameters for claims, introduce more restrictions, and give employers more ways to ignore them. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton Dumping 33 pay equity claims and telling underpaid workers to start again was always going to cause fury from those who stood to benefit from the claims - mostly women. But the government's shock and awe approach to changing the legislation has fanned the flames of anger. In a whirlwind 48 hours the law changed - no select committee, public meetings, opportunities for submissions or the usual processes laws go through. It is far from the first time a government has used urgency - but this was fast even by usual urgent standards. The Prime Minister has suggested the opposition, unions and the media have all been scaremongering on the issue. But there has been no time for debate on it, which Newsroom senior political reporter Marc Daalder said did not give people time to discuss its merits. "I don't think anyone was looking at this as an area for major reform, certainly not immediate reform," he said. "It's something that the government hadn't really spent very much time talking about. We know that the [workplace relationships] minister, Brooke van Velden, has been doing a lot of workplace reform and a lot of that has been forecast in the coalition agreements and in public statements that she's made. And she now says this pay equity issue is something that right when she got the job, at the very start in late 2023, she told the Prime Minister she was interested in working on it. "But it's not something the rest of us, or the public, had really known was on their radar." The changes to the Equal Pay Amendment Act made last week tighten up parameters for claims, introduce more restrictions and give employers more ways to ignore them. Van Velden said in her announcement that all ministers have been asked to save money, and that is what the move would do. They are substantial savings - billions - and Act leader David Seymour said van Velden had saved the Budget. National has played that aspect down, but it will get a lot of liability off the government books. That has paved the way for commentary that the savings have been made off the backs of women and made it harder for them to access economic justice. No one has lost any money - wages are not being slashed. But the fairness that many women were hoping for has just become that much further away. Daalder says Act and National MPs have now expressed concerns that many of the claims now cancelled were "basically bogus". "Nicola Willis called it [a Trojan horse for] a billion dollar grievance industry by the unions... that yes there are some situations where particular lines of work that are dominated by women have been systemically undervalued due to sexism and misogyny, as compared to types of work dominated by men that require similar skills, qualifications, and levels of work and so forth. "But that many of the claims that were currently being considered were not that. That they represented pay differentials for reasons other than sexism and misogyny. That's the heart of the argument from the government now ... the system was too loose, it was letting people make disingenuous comparisons between professions, and that there are professions that are paid less well not because they are dominated by women but for other reasons." Also on The Detail on Thursday, Helen Roberts, who is a professor of finance at the University of Otago, talks about the differences between equal pay, pay equity and the gender gap. She said we need to up our game on data gathering from employers so the situation is more transparent - and she uses the Australian example, the statutory body WGEA (Workplace Gender Equality Agency) as an example of what could be done here. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
Associated Press
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Alex Morgan becomes a minority stakeholder in her former NWSL club, the San Diego Wave
Alex Morgan has joined the investor group for the San Diego Wave, the National Women's Soccer League team she played for before retiring from professional soccer. The Wave announced Tuesday that the two-time Women's World Cup winner has rejoined the club as a minority stakeholder. 'San Diego is where I've built my home, where I am raising my children, and found a purpose beyond my playing career,' Morgan said in a statement. 'I believed in Wave FC before a single match was played, and I still believe this Club has the power to change the future of women's sports.' Morgan announced she was retiring after a 15-year career in professional soccer last September, when she was pregnant with her son Enzo, who was born last month. A crowd of 26,516 filled San Diego's Snapdragon Stadium for Morgan's farewell match. Morgan was among the first players signed by the Wave after the club joined the NWSL in 2021. She went on to play 63 matches with the Wave and scored 28 goals, including the team's first. Morgan played in 150 NWSL matches over her career, which included stints with the Portland Thorns and the Orlando Pride. In addition to World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019, Morgan also won an Olympic gold medal in 2012 for the United States. She played in 224 matches for the U.S., with 123 goals (fifth on the career list) and 53 assists. She was named the U.S. Soccer Player of the Year in 2012 and 2018. Off the field, Morgan advanced women's soccer through her fight for equal pay. The U.S. women filed a lawsuit in 2019 that led to a historic agreement in 2022 that provided the women with pay equitable to what U.S. men's players received. She also paved the way for reforms in the NWSL, calling for the adoption of an anti-harassment policy after a coach misconduct scandal rocked the league in 2021. 'Alex has always fought to positively impact this game beyond the pitch,' said Lauren Leichtman, controlling owner of the Wave. 'She used her platform to lead, to advocate, and to build something meaningful in San Diego. Her decision to invest is not only a continuation of her leadership but also a reflection of her belief in what we are building.' In addition to their son, Morgan and her husband, Servando Carrasco, have a daughter, Charlie, who was born in 2020. ___ AP soccer:
RNZ News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Oral Questions for Thursday 8 May 2025
Questions to Ministers Hon CARMEL SEPULONI to the Minister for Women: Does she stand by her answer to oral question No. 4 yesterday, in relation to the Equal Pay Amendment Bill, that "I always advocate for women, and I have been consulted on and advised on this legislation from the outset"; if so, on what date was she first consulted regarding the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety's Cabinet paper reviewing pay equity policy settings? SUZE REDMAYNE to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has she seen on the Government's fiscal position? Hon BARBARA EDMONDS to the Minister of Finance: When did she first consider the pay equity changes for inclusion in Budget 2025, and what modelling did she receive, if any, on the number of workers likely to be affected by the Equal Pay Amendment Bill? KAHURANGI CARTER to the Minister for Children: E tautoko ana ia i ana korero me ana mahi katoa? Does she stand by all of her statements and actions? LAURA McCLURE to the Minister for Children: What recent announcements has she made regarding key performance indicators for Oranga Tamariki? Hon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME to the Minister of Education: Does she stand by all of her answers to oral question No. 11 on 6 May 2025? GRANT McCALLUM to the Minister of Education: What recent announcements has she made? Hon GINNY ANDERSEN to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Does she stand by her statement, "our priority is building a strong economy to reduce the cost of living, support more people into work and lift incomes for women to help them and their families out of hardship"; if so, how does the Equal Pay Amendment Bill contribute to lifting the incomes of women? SAM UFFINDELL to the Minister for Tourism and Hospitality: What recent announcements has she made to boost New Zealand as an international travel destination? LAN PHAM to the Minister for the Environment: Does she consider that she has been a strong advocate for environmental protection in the Government's decisions? RYAN HAMILTON to the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage: What updates can he provide on New Zealand Music Month? Hon JAN TINETTI to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety: Does she stand by her statement that "women should be paid for their work"; if so, does she consider that the Equal Pay Amendment Bill will make it harder for hundreds of thousands of women to be paid fairly for their work? To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
