Female Workers Set for Historic Pay Rise After Government Announces Pay Equity Settlement

Unions, organisations, and workers in the disability, care and support industry enthusiastically welcomed the recent announcement of the Government’s pay equity settlement last week.

After 20 months of negotiations between the government and unions such as E Tu union, New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation (NZNO), the New Zealand Public Service Association (PSA) and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU), the government has announced a pay equity settlement worth over $2 billion, which will be installed over the next 5 years. 

The settlement will affect 55,000 workers, with the aim of increasing their income from an average of $16.00 per hour, to between $19.00 and $23.50 per hour by 1 July 2017. The settlement also includes long-term goals of having an entry level pay rate of $21.50 and a top rate of $27.00 by 2021. Health Minister Jonathan Coleman has said that, “there has never been a pay rise like this in New Zealand.”

Thousands of support and care workers will attend workplace meetings in the coming weeks to vote on whether they should accept the proposed settlement. E Tu Assistant National Secretary John Ryall said in a media release that this will be a historic “once in a lifetime pay rise” that can uplift the mostly female workforce from earning ‘poverty wages’ and therefore hugely increase their quality of life”. 

The need for a pay equity settlement was initiated in 2012 by Kristine Bartlett’s Equal Pay Act case against her employer, Terranova Homes. She argued that she had been kept on low wages for the past 20 years because the care and support workforce consisted of mainly female workers, and therefore seemed to be placed on lower wages. The Supreme Court found gender bias to be the reason for Kristine’s low wages, which led the government to intervene. They commissioned E Tu, NZNO, PSA and CTU to work on a negotiated settlement to avoid further court intervention, and to ensure that Kristine’s case would also help solve issues regarding pay equity for other care and support workers. 

E Tu stated in their media release, “Unions say the government is to be commended for agreeing to negotiate this settlement offer, rather than waiting for years before the legal process was finally exhausted.” 

This article first appeared in Issue 8, 2017.
Posted 10:40am Sunday 23rd April 2017 by Mikade Barns-Graham.