Pay equity a step closer with new member’s bill

Media Release

22 June 2011

Pay equity a step closer with new member’s bill

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) welcomes a bill, launched in Parliament today, that will allow employees to have access to wage and salary information.

NZNO Industrial Services Manager, Cee Payne says, “Making information about pay rates public is a good way to ensure fairness. Employers are unlikely to discriminate when they know this information will be available to all employees.”

“It is wearying that in 2011 we are still struggling to value women’s work but Green MP, Catherine Delahunty’s bill provides another tool for workers to use to identify unequal pay in their workplace. It is unfortunate that New Zealand still needs legislation in this area, but we continue to have very real discrimination at work based on gender.”

“Our members who work in the aged care sector are some of the lowest paid workers in New Zealand, earning only slightly above the minimum wage, on average. Their work is skilled and demanding and we know that their pay rates are related to their gender rather than their skills,” Payne says.

“Although Delahunty’s bill doesn’t address the gender pay gap in the aged care sector we support all moves to achieve pay equity. NZNO hopes all political parties will follow suit when the bill is drawn from the ballot.”

ENDS

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