17 February 2011

The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the government should use Red Bag Day today to commit to improving wages for low paid women workers and turn around its shameful record on pay and employment equity.

Red Bag Day was established in 1988 to draw attention to the wage disparity between women and men. The red bag theme symbolizes how far women are “in the red” with their pay.

Since 1988 any progress that had been made was completely undone by the National Government when two years ago it scrapped the pay and employment equity unit within the Department of Labour and halted further pay and employment investigations.

NZEI says it is frustrating to see the government continuing to ignore clear evidence of institutional pay inequity for thousands of education workers.

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

NZEI National Secretary Paul Goulter says “we also have thousands of school support staff who are being discriminated against in terms of pay and career advancement because the government does not value their work.”

“Most of these women did not qualify for tax cuts and they are struggling to make ends meet with increased living costs. The government’s failure to act on proven cases of pay inequity simply adds insult to injury and denies them the opportunities they deserve,” he says.

NZEI is calling on the government to show some real commitment to closing the gender pay gap, and ensure all women workers are treated fairly and equally.

Its members will be supporting the Pay Equity Challenge Coalition at 1pm today for a symbolic handing over of red bags on the steps of parliament to mark Red Bag Day.

ENDS

© Scoop Media