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The Peoples’ Select Committee on Pay Equity

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, May 28th, 2025 - 8 comments
Categories: human rights, sexism, uncategorized, wages, workers' rights - Tags:

In very bad news for the Government former National MP Marilyn Waring has announced that she will be doing something the Government did not do, organise hearings to consider the Government’s sabotaging of Pay Equity.

From Russell Palmer at Radio New Zealand:

Former National MP Dame Marilyn Waring has gathered a group of female former MPs to hold their own ‘people’s select committee’ on the government’s pay equity changes.

The unofficial committee is rounded out with former MPs Jackie Blue, Jo Hayes and Belinda Vernon from National, Nanaia Mahuta, Lianne Dalziel, Steve Chadwick and Lynne Pillay from Labour, Ria Bond from New Zealand First and Sue Bradford from the Greens. All are working on a ‘pro bono’ – unpaid – basis.

Independent consultant Amy Ross, previously the Public Service Commission’s lead on pay equity, and former Parliamentary librarian and researcher Bessie Sutherland would provide additional research support, and would be paid.

The rationale for the initiative is that the change should have been research informed decision making.

Again from Radio New Zealand:

[Waring] said they would be aiming to gather the evidence the government should have.

“I sat in a Parliament that was bedeviled by urgency under Muldoon… on many occasions. But my beef here is, where was the evidence?

“I’m sure it’s there, but it has not had a vehicle for publicity. It has not been brought together in a consolidated, rigorous way for people to make their own decisions, as opposed to just listening to a lot of kind of high-flying cliches.”

The first session is planned for 11 August in Wellington and subsequent sittings will be conducted via zoom.

The initiative is supported by the PSA and the CTU. I will post more details as they become available.

8 comments on “The Peoples’ Select Committee on Pay Equity ”

  1. Drowsy M. Kram 1
    28 May 2025 at 10:06 am

    Former National MP Dame Marilyn Waring has gathered a group of female former MPs to hold their own ‘people’s select committee’ on the government’s pay equity changes… All are working on a ‘pro bono’ – unpaid – basis.

    Once the evidence is in, can Sharon Murdoch pen a picture worth 12.8 billion 'words'?

    Reply
    • Karolyn_IS 1.1
      28 May 2025 at 11:43 am

      The women on the pay equity committee working pro bono have been in relatively high paid, traditionally male-dominated jobs (ie MPs). So they are working for the benefit of women working in lower paid, female-dominated occupations.

      Reply
  2. Patricia Bremner 2
    28 May 2025 at 10:44 am

    How wonderful we have women of their standing in the community offering their services to research the fairness of the changes, The women who have been affected are low paid in many cases, and they do not have the standing resources or knowhow to build a case. These past MPs know the systems and query shutting out a select committee process which would have examined the claims. Each call for evidence by this group will keep the issue of equal pay in the public eye over the next six months of advocacy. It will be an albatross round the current Government's neck at the next Election. imo.

    Reply
    • Chris 2.1
      28 May 2025 at 11:30 am

      If it gets too much for them closer to the election they'll announce a "tweaking of the settings" aimed at hoodwinking voters into thinking the issue's been sorted then we'll vote the pricks straight back in again. Unless the left get their act together those tactics will be successfully employed across the board.

      Reply
  3. tc 3
    28 May 2025 at 11:43 am

    This should take till next election hopefully.

    A forensic examination of this duplicitious coalition in action.

    Cigarette anybody ? There's another swifty that deserves a microscope IMO

    Reply
  5. joe90 5
    28 May 2025 at 12:49 pm

    boom!

    @acgeddis.bsky.social‬

    Unpaid women doing the work that governing MPs wouldn't do before deciding that women should remain underpaid for doing women's work …

    https://bsky.app/profile/acgeddis.bsky.social/post/3lq24n3wqps2w

    Reply

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