The message is loud and clear: the Government must introduce mandatory pay gap reporting.
Thirteen businesses have taken up the call of the Green Party, unions, and community groups who have long been telling the Government to take action to address the gender pay gap.
โWhen you have businesses, unions, community groups and the Human Rights Commission all calling for mandatory pay gap reporting, the only option the Government has is to act,โ says Jan Logie.
โFor decades, government-after-government have made the rules that allow organisations to avoid equal pay for equal work. As a result, incomes in Aotearoa are severely out of balance.
โPasifika women earn on average around 75% of what Pฤkeha men get paid. For every dollar a Pฤkeha man earns, a Pฤkeha woman earns 89 cents.
โBut when the organisations who have been getting away with this are the ones calling for change, you know the Government is out of step.
โTens of thousands of women, Mฤori and Pasifika right across Aotearoa have less money for food, less money to pay the bills, and less money for their families.
โThere is nothing about this that is acceptable.
โIt is time for the Government to listen and change the law to introduce comprehensive pay gap reporting.
โWith a Green Party Minister for Women in the last term of Government, we got work started.
โOur then Minister for Women, and the Labour Minister for Workplace Relations, wrote to the Council of Trade Unions and Business New Zealand confirming that the Government would progress work on pay transparency.
โBut since 2020, very little has happened.
โFor years, the Green Party has been pushing Labour and previous governments to take action.
โNow business, unions, and community groups all want the same action. There are no excuses now, Minister. Time to step up,โ Jan Logie says.