The coalition agreement between National and United Future which puts income sharing back on the parliamentary table is completely out of step with employment trends and with workers and parents’ work preferences.

“Taking the Taxation (Income Sharing for Tax Credit) Bill through a second reading would waste Parliament’s time” said Pay Equity Challenge Coalition spokesperson, Angela McLeod.

“The evidence is clear that the only group benefitting from income sharing is higher earners and in the main, higher earning men.  Treasury quoted in the last term of Government that 78 percent of the benefits from income sharing would accrue to families earning over $70,000 per annum.”

“The Coalition is very concerned that with women’s wage levels lower on average, it could result in more women staying at home or reducing their hours in the paid workforce, while for most men it would be business as usual.  Income sharing returns us to the past with its stereotypes about women’s roles and reinforces the gendered nature of child caring”.

“Internationally, there is an increasing emphasis on the need to make better use of women’s human capital and to close the wage gap.   Organisations ranging from the United Nations to the OECD and the World Bank are paying more attention to ways of making the most of female potential.

“Last year, a Goldman Sachs report calculated that eliminating the remaining gap in male and female employment rates could boost GDP in New Zealand by 10%”, said Angela McLeod.

And income sharing doesn’t even begin to address the real issues facing New Zealand; child poverty, raising the income of low and middle income New Zealanders and reducing the gender pay gap.

“It is a waste of time and money for Parliament to debate this bill again.  It should be dropped – it is out of step and out-dated,” said Angela McLeod.

After receiving advice from the department of Labour, CTU President Helen Kelly today said that the Minister of Labour is wrong about pay equity investigations and that there is a need for a law change to allow workers to find out pay information.

“We launched a joint petition with the Green Party in August this year following statements from the Minister of Labour that Labour Inspectors have the power to investigate issues of equal pay in the workplace. 261 workers from 18 workplaces from around the country have written to the Labour Inspectors, as suggested by Ms Wilkinson, seeking an investigation into their pay, only to be told that they need evidence that a pay gap exists before the Inspectors can investigate.”

“This leaves women in a Catch 22 situation where they need to prove there is a gap before the Inspectors can investigate the gap. The process the Minister suggested is a farce.”

“Kate Wilkinson refused to support Catherine Delahunty’s pay equity information law on the basis that women could use the Inspectorate to investigate claims of pay inequity. However, the process outlined by the Inspectors is simply unrealistic for any woman worker to reasonably be expected to go through.  They first have to go to their boss, seek pay information about their colleagues, which their boss doesn’t have to give them (and possibly can’t under current law), then prove that there is a complaint to be made.”

“Catherine Delahunty has drawn up legislation that would enable workers to have access to these records for the purpose of investigating equal pay issues but the National Party refused to support it. We believe that a law change to allow  workers to have the pay information first will mean that complaints to the inspectors will be based on knowledge of pay inequality rather than relying on the inspectors in the first instance to inspect all workplaces.”

“We have tested the Minister’s assertion that under the current system it is possible for workers to get information about pay rates. She should have done this as well – and she would have found out – it doesn’t work!.”

The Pay Equity Challenge Coalition says that employer spokesperson Alasdair Thompson’s outbursts from the last day demonstrate precisely why the Equal Pay Act needs to be modernised and strengthened.

“Alasdair Thompson has provided the perfect example of how some employers demonstrate discriminatory practices and views,” said coalition spokesperson Rebecca Matthews.

“The law needs to protect employees from those with outdated and misinformed views of the role of men and women in the workplace,” said Matthews. “Catherine Delahunty’s Bill allows for greater scrutiny of employer’s decisions, in order to ensure fairness.”

Rebecca Matthews welcomed the Government distancing themselves from Thompson’s comments, but said they needed to do more to protect women workers from similar employer behaviour.

“Kate Wilkinson and her colleagues need to take action on fair pay and support the Equal Pay Amendment Bill. This is a really good way to make sure that Alasdair Thompson’s views aren’t reflected in a continuing gender pay gap.”

The Pay Equity Challenge, a coalition of business and community groups and unions, is welcoming Catherine Delahunty’s new Equal Pay Bill as an effective  way of dealing to the wage gap between men’s and women’s pay.

“This bill modernises our approach to equal pay, and will help to give women the information they need to ensure that they are being paid fairly,” said coalition spokesperson Rebecca Matthews.

“Our Equal Pay legislation is 40 years old, and was written for that time. Times have changed.  We need to break down the culture of secrecy that has developed around pay which means that most women and their unions find it difficult to access information and address unfairness in pay.”

Matthews welcomed Catherine Delahunty’s leadership on the 12.75% gender pay gap, particularly in light of the government’s lack of action on  pay equity.

“Catherine has drafted a bill that all political parties can support. It modernises equal pay legislation, and gives employees transparency and information about how men and women are paid,” said Matthews.

The Coalition intends to talk to all political parties about the need for a political solution to the ongoing disparity between men and women’s pay, and the need for greater accountability for employers to demonstrate  that they are meeting reasonable  obligations to pay fairly.

The government cannot continue to turn a blind eye to pay inequity as yet another report shows clear evidence of gender pay discrimination, says the Pay Equity Challenge Coalition.

An independent report carried out for the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa once again shows that women are being paid less than men in jobs which require similar skills and experience.

“The job evaluation of school support staff which is an almost completely feminised workforce, found pay differences of up to $7.95 an hour when comparing people doing similar jobs in male-dominated sectors.

“Once again we have clear evidence that the gender pay gap is alive and well and that low pay for women is linked to gender discrimination,” says Pay Equity Challenge Coalition spokesperson Angela McLeod.

“The effect of women being paid less than men for work of equal value means women are subsidising the economy to the tune of at least $4 billion every year.”

“This government has a shameful record on pay and employment equity and continues to ignore the low pay reality of thousands of New Zealand’s women workers,” says Ms McLeod.

The Pay Equity Challenge Coalition continues to call on the government to increase the pay of those workers already identified by pay investigations as underpaid, ensure that employers comply with all gender pay legislation, and create a strategy to close the gender pay gap in both the public and private sectors.

A gathering at Parliament Grounds tomorrow to mark International Working Women’s Day will begin by acknowledging the women of Christchurch.

Carol Beaumont signs pay equity pledge

“While we acknowledge the pain and overwhelming work demands for all the people of Christchurch, our thoughts are very much with the women of Christchurch,  as they struggle to care for children, organise their families and get their homes in order, while worrying about job security and making ends meet,” said Coalition spokeswoman Angela McLeod.

Ms McLeod said there was little to celebrate on IWWD 2011.

“We have seen little advance in terms of lifting women’s equality in the past year,” she said.  “Instead things are becoming increasingly unfair on a whole range of fronts, including attacks on solo parents and insulting 25 cent hourly increases for those on the minimum wage – both of whom are disproportionately women.

There has been no action taken by Government to close the gender pay gap.  Inaction just entrenches inequality said Ms McLeod.

The Coalition will launch a pledge tomorrow and invite women community leaders to sign on to challenge Government to ‘urgently reassess its strategy on pay and employment equity with a plan to significantly close the pay gap in the next three years’.

“Many women community leaders, including MPs, city councilors and others have already signed the pledge,” said Ms McLeod.

“The Government is out of touch with the community on equity issues and urgently needs to take note of women leaders and change direction towards a more equitable society.”

More on International Working Women’s Day:

• Photos from the day!
• New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release
• Public Service Association media release

Several male MPs and trade union leaders took up the pay equity challenge today – and carried Equal Pay Day red bags on the steps of

Male union leaders and MPs taking up the Pay Equity Challenge

Parliament to show their support for the campaign.

Pay Equity Challenge spokeswoman Angela McLeod said that achieving pay equityis not just a concern for women. “Today, we’ve chosen to give red bags to male leaders to draw attention that this is everyone’s issue.”

“The majority of MPs are men, and the majority of employers are still men. We need them to step up and be part of the solution to the 12.4% gap between men and women’s hourly pay,” said Angela.

Tomorrow is International Red Bag Day – the day that women effectively start getting paid this year.  Before tomorrow, women were working for free – catching up with men’s pay from 2010.

“The men that joined us today are standing up in the fight for fair pay. We need more men and women to join us.  

“The Government needs to pay attention to the issue and take steps to reduce the gender pay gap.

More photographs

Public sector job losses and welfare cuts will disproportionately hit women’s income and set progress on closing the gender pay gap back years, the UK Trade Union Congress warned today, as it publishes a report on the gender impact of the cuts.

Ahead of the latest pay gap figures published tomorrow, the TUC has used official earnings data to calculate that the gender pay divide, based on median hourly earnings, is nearly twice as high in the private sector (20.8 per cent) as it is in the public sector (11.6 per cent).

The TUC believes that the fall in city bonuses and the relative lack of public sector job losses during the recession helped close the gender pay gap in recent years but fears tomorrow’s figures, based on 2010 earnings, could mark the start of a growing gender pay gap.

On average women working in the public sector earn almost 40 per cent more per hour than female employees in the private sector. This highlights the importance of public sector employment in raising women’s wages, says the TUC.

The TUC is concerned that as women represent 65 per cent of the public sector workforce, they will bear the brunt of the estimated 400,000 public sector job losses over the next four years.

See the full report here.

National’s record on Pay Equity had been abysmal, said Barbara Wyeth, president of the SFWU, which represents over 16,000 working women.

She said Hekia Parata had 90 days to show she’s serious about advancing women’s economic and working lives.

Education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa said the Government had systematically ignored evidence of pay inequity within education and had done nothing to address the needs of low paid women workers.

A pay investigation involving around 800 Ministry of Education support workers who work with special needs children, found they were significantly underpaid when compared to male workers in other sectors with similar skills levels and responsibilities, NZEI President Frances Nelson said.

A separate report on the compulsory schooling sector found that across all occupational groups in schools, there were areas where women were not being treated fairly or were being discriminated against in terms of pay, career advancement and value of their work, she said.

Appointing a new Minister of Women’s Affairs gives the Government a new opportunity to reduce the gender pay gap and to make a real commitment to making a positive change in improving gender equity said Angela McLeod, spokesperson for the Pay Equity Challenge Coalition.

“Under the last Minister’s watch the Pay and Employment Equity Unit in the Department of Labour was dismantled, pay reviews were abandoned and the Minister focused on selectively using statistics to try and claim an improvement in the gender pay gap that hasn’t happened,” said McLeod. “While claiming to leave no stone unturned, Pansy Wong actually let the moss grow over the issue of pay and employment equity.”

McLeod said that effective action to deal with the completely dismal statistics from the Biennial Census of Women’s participation needs to be a priority of the new Minister.

“The Census released last week shows that in critical areas the participation of women has stalled and is sliding backwards. Gender pay gaps in the state sector of up to 36 % are disgraceful and have to be tackled head on with some commitment and resourcing. We have to shift from rhetoric around pay and employment equity to actually making a difference in women’s pay packets.”

Angela McLeod said that the Coalition hoped to get on to a better footing with a new Minister.

“We would like the new Minister to meet with us soon, and start participating in cross-parliamentary work to make a real improvement on the gender pay gap,” she said.