The equal pay initiative

Anthony R0bins
9 years ago
Categories: class war, feminism, national, wages, workers' rights
Tags: credit where it's due, Equal pay, pay equity, women, women's rights

Here’s a headline to gladden a Leftie’s heart:

Government hailed for equal pay initiative

The Government is winning praise for a move unions hope will lead to equal pay for all working women.

…

The country’s biggest union, E tu, says it’s “a huge step forward for underpaid workers”, while the Public Service Association describes it as “welcome news”.

Good news, credit where it’s due and so on. But it’s not like the Nats have suddenly been afflicted with a social conscience or anything. As Rachel Smalley puts it:

About time equal pay was addressed

A working group to address the pay-gap between men and women — the government’s hand has been forced on this, but nonetheless, this is progress.

…

And this came about because of a Court of Appeal decision on pay rates in the aged care sector — a sector that’s predominantly staffed by women — and it found that women could make a claim for pay equity under the Equal Pay act.

Hence the sudden creation of this working group — it means the responsibility for deciding this no longer lies with the courts — because, as you can imagine, this ruling has set a precedent. …

So, kicking and screaming then. In fact, if you want to know what the Nats really think about pay equity, here’s some history:

National destroys hopes for women’s pay equity

CTU media release

13 May 2009

National destroys hopes for women’s pay equity – again

The decision today by the National Party Government to abolish the Department of Labour’s Pay and Employment Equity Unit shows an absolute disregard for the thousands of women workers in this country whose work is undervalued simply because they are women, said CTU President Helen Kelly. This decision destroys hopes that the unfairness in women’s pay will be rectified soon.

“This is the second time that the National Party has rejected pay equity,” said Kelly. “They dumped pay equity legislation as soon as they took office in 1990, and now they have done it again. Both the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Women’s Affairs claim that National has been committed to gender equality since 1972. Their words of support for equal pay for women are utterly hollow.”

The Nats have never been a friend of women.