Govt Must Act on Pay and Employment Inequity

Government Must Act on Pay and Employment Inequity in Schools

The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is calling on the government to take action and address issues of pay and employment inequity for women working in schools.

The report of the Pay Equity Review of the Compulsory Schooling Sector has finally been released under the Official Information Act. The government sat on it for 18 months, refusing to release it publicly. The report was prepared by representatives from four unions - NZEI, PPTA, PSA, SFWU – as well as the Ministry of Education and the School Trustees Association.

It found that across all occupational groups in schools, there were areas where women employees were not being treated fairly or were being discriminated against in terms of pay, career advancement and value of their work.

NZEI National Secretary Paul Goulter says the government has shown bad faith by hiding the report away.

“What it has meant is that thousands of school employees, who have proven issues around pay equity, have been denied the opportunity to address them through their pay claims and pay negotiations.”

Last year the government shut down the Pay and Employment Equity Unit within the Department of Labour and halted all further work on pay and employment equity investigations.

“Keeping the findings of this report buried for so long is another reflection of this government’s lamentable record on pay equity and its unwillingness to address institutional pay and employment discrimination against women,” says Mr Goulter.

The report makes 18 recommendations. NZEI will be working with the other unions to demand a response from the government and to ensure that all women working in schools are treated fairly and equally.

In line with one of the recommendations, NZEI will also be writing to the Ministry of Education requesting that a monitoring group be formed as soon as possible to oversee a response plan to all the recommendations in the report.

The executive summary and a link to the report is available at http://www.nzei.org.nz/Pay++Employment+Equity.html

ENDS

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