Richard Wagstaff, CTU President said today he was pleased to be able to formally announce the swift progress made in the tripartite union, business and public sector Joint Working Group on Pay Equity Principles, which reported back to Government last week. “This proves there is solid agreement across the board that 2018 is the year women finally get a clear process to access the wage justice they’ve been denied for over 40 years” Mr Wagstaff said.
“This Government picked up on pay equity as a priority, where the last Government veered off track and undermined what business and unions had already agreed to. The Joint Working Group has swiftly and constructively agreed that claims should be easier to lodge, that the best way to value claims is to find the most relevant male-dominated occupations, and that we should put these principles into the good law we already have.”
“I’m confident that the strength of the recommendations from both unions and the business sector will steer Government to get the pay equity principles into law this parliamentary year. This Thursday is International Women’s Day, and we’ll be presenting our equal pay petition to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner on behalf of all women making claims. I’m proud to be able to tell them we’ve just made concrete recommendations to Government on how 2018 can be the year we end wage injustice for women in New Zealand.”
The CTU will be presenting the ‘Treat Her Right’ petition with over 8.5 thousand signatures to EEO Commissioner Dr Jackie Blue on International Women’s Day, the 8th of March. Further details can be accessed here.
The CTU is now calling on the Government to take the next step by putting the pay equity principles into law before women in New Zealand start ‘working for free’ for the rest of the year, within the next 253 days.