The report on ACT kneecapping pay parity is grim reading
Advocacy group calls for Equal Pay Amendment Act repeal, independent pay equity unit
A committee formed to scrutinise sweeping pay equity changes says the government violated the rule of law and human rights legislation through its 2025 law.
The unofficial ‘People’s Select Committee’ – made up of 10 former female MPs from different political parties – has released its report on Tuesday after receiving 1390 submissions on the topic, and held three months of hearings across the country.
Among its recommendations are that the 2025 law be repealed, and an independent pay equity unit be established to help employers to look at future claims.
Former National MP Dame Marilyn Waring spearheaded the committee after the Equal Pay Amendment Act was passed under urgency in May. She said the committee aimed to provide evidence the government had not obtained.
RNZ
The People’s Select Committee is a damning report into the dirty tactics used by this Government to damage the poorest workers so that they could balance their austerity budget.
They have $14billion for tax cuts, $3billion for landlords, $300 million for Tobacco subsides, $200 million for Gas and oil subsidies, hell they have have $6million for Michelin Star restart reviews, but we don’t have money for 150 000 workers who were promised that money!
The details of how this hard right Government kneecapped the pay parity deal to literally rob workers to give a tax break to the bosses, are coming out now and the dirty tactics involved to screw over our poorest workers is obscene…
Use of urgency to upend pay equity scheme decided after PM’s meeting with senior ministers
New documents reveal the Government’s use of urgency to rush through controversial changes to the country’s pay equity scheme wasn’t decided until after a high-powered meeting between the Prime Minister and senior ministers.
A document dump yesterday from several government agencies provides an insight into the Government’s shock decision in May to amend the Equal Pay Act, which ministers claimed created a fiscally unsustainable pay equity scheme as changes saved almost $13 billion over the next four years.
The changes, which stopped 33 live pay equity claims, raised the threshold for claims to be made and limited the job types workforces could use as comparators when arguing inequity.
The amendments announced by Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden had not been publicly forecast, and the Government used urgency to pass the bill through the House, meaning no public consultation was done.
Now, documents released yesterday showed urgency hadn’t been raised by officials in the months of preparation through 2024 before potential reform.
Urgency first appeared after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met with van Velden, Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Public Service Minister Judith Collins between 9pm and 10pm on March 4 this year.
Documents showed the meeting had been set by Luxon’s office, overriding plans van Velden’s office had to speak with Collins and Willis about the changes around the same time.
Publicly, ministers argued that urgency was warranted to ensure claims were judged under the same conditions.
Briefings to van Velden from Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) officials in February said there had been “limited testing and analysis” of the changes due to the “short timeframe to develop proposals”.
“There remains the risk of the changes not achieving the policy intent and unintended consequences arising once the bill has been passed,” officials warned.
Officials acknowledged that altering the pay equity scheme in such a way would likely be “contentious” because it would retrospectively remove people’s rights and override some aspects of existing settlements.
They also advised secrecy until after the bill was introduced because it risked a large increase in the number of claims lodged.
…The Government lied to you about the need for urgency and kept it secret to minimise our ability to fight it!
They robbed the most vulnerable workers so as to pay the Bosses tax breaks on capital!
It’s the exact opposite of Robin Hood! This Government steals from the poor to give to the rich and do it in secret so you don’t know!
How bitter must you be towards Jacinda, vaccines, Trans people and Māori for this to be acceptable to you Kiwi?
Time to take a hard long look at yourself in the mirror Kiwi and ask if the right manipulating your anger for the rich is really who you are as person.
Our workers deserve better than this!
