Photo: RNZ / Eva Corlett
Nationwide protests are taking place on Friday in response to the government's controversial pay equity law change.
The Pay Equity Amendment Bill passed on Wednesday after being rushed through under urgency.
Affected workers say they're "angry", "hurt" and "disappointed" and feel betrayed by the architect of the legislation, the Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden but are determined to keep fighting.
The legislation means 33 equity claims being negotiated will now have to restart the process under new criteria.
Today's nationwide protests are being organised by the Public Service Association and will include a demonstration outside van Velden's Tāmaki electorate office.
The government said the changes - which raise the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued to support a claim - are necessary to make the law more "fair". The new law will also "significantly reduce costs for the crown."
Support worker Kate Halsell told RNZ she's "really angry," "let down" and "disappointed" by the law change.
"We were so close to getting to the end and getting this sorted, and then to be basically kicked in the guts and told you're going to be starting again, you're not worth anything."
Halsell said the Minister behind the changes "doesn't care about any woman. Doesn't matter the job, she doesn't care".
She was frustrated people don't "see what we do".
"I don't see them going out there and holding the hands of people who are dying, giving them their last respect so they can be at home.
"I don't see them going into a house where a guy who's just become a paraplegic or a tetraplegic, and they're angry and they're upset, and they finally got home, and the reality of life really hits in - we deal with that.
"We walk in and make sure, hey, you're washed, you're dressed, you had your medication, you got your food."
Halsell said achieving pay equity would have made a material difference.
"It means better food on the table. I can have heat in my house 24/7. I can actually get my car fixed properly. I can buy a new car."
She would be protesting today "with bells on", but has to work.
The nurses' union had at least 10 pay equity claims in play this year.
Registered nurse Andrea Burton was also "disappointed" and "angry", but most of all, she said "I felt sad."
Burton said it felt like a "betrayal" that it was a woman who made the decision, referencing the Minister.
She said the thought of having to start the whole claim process over again was "wearing" but the fight will continue.
"Of course, we're all willing to continue to fight. We're not going to let her keep us down. We've done it before. We'll do it again."
'It's all in the bin'
Library assistant Alex Cass was "shocked" and "angry" when she found out about the legislation, and said it "scraps years of work."
"All the data we've collected, the processes we had in place, it's all in the bin. Now we're back to square one.
"Honestly, kind of feels like we're all Sisyphus, like, about three quarters of the way up the hill, just watching the rock crawl right back down to the bottom."
Cass said it felt like a "mockery of the democratic process" to have it rushed through "so fast, with absolutely no time for consultation or for the people who this actually affect, and who are experts in this field".
Another library assistant Tessa Bowler felt the same, "basically we're at the bottom of the mountain again."
Bowler said it "hurts" and was "especially galling that it is a woman, that... a woman has taken away our rights.
"I think we're all quite in shock, but I think the we're going to have to refile under the new laws.
"We've just got to keep going - we can't let this government win."
Plunket nurse Kathy Greenstreet said the decision was "really disappointing".
"Partly because it was unexpected and happened in the blink of an eye and overnight with no consultation."
She said they started their pay equity process quite a few years ago.
"So lots and lots of hours and prep work have gone in into getting the claim ready, and it was so close to being submitted. So you can imagine the the feelings among the staff that that opportunity has gone."
She said those working in primary health have a "significant pay gap" with their hospital counterparts.
"For registered nurses, it's around 15 percent but for some of our unregulated workforce, health workers, and then our admin staff, it's like 30 percent."
Primary practice nurse Tracey Morgan said her whole stomach "dropped" when she found out. She said a colleague told her she was going to quit because of the news.
"After being a nurse for 47 years, that announcement rocked her that much, she quit.
"She just can't do it anymore. She can't fight the fight. And I was sitting there thinking, she's right. How much longer do I want to fight?"
Her message to the Minister was to "come and work in our shoes, not for an hour, not for a day".
"Come and sit in our lives, not even for a week, do it two weeks, and see what we have to put with day in and day out, and why we fight."
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden who was responsible for overseeing the amended legislation. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Minister's response
Van Velden told RNZ she and the government do support all women.
"We respect all women, but I hope that most women out there will understand what it is that the government is doing.
"We are still allowing for people to bring a pay equity claim. That has not changed."
Van Velden said the government was making the process more "robust" and making the law "fair and clear".
"We are simply saying that if the law says that we should be looking at sex based undervaluation, we should ensure that the process finds sex based undervaluation and doesn't muddle it with other labour market factors."
She said she hoped people would realise what she was doing was making the laws "better" because she believed "hand on heart" the government didn't have the current settings right.
"I care about stamping out sex based undervaluation, but if we want to do that, we have to have an evidential basis for making sex based undervaluation claims."
The Equal Pay Act will take effect the day after Royal Assent which will take place next week.
Here is the full list of 33 claims:
Education
1 Teachers (PS and ECE is funded sector)
2 Support workers, youth workers in residential schools, Education Service
3 Education Advisors (Learning Support) MoE
4 Psychologist MoE employed
5 Service Managers MoE employed
Funded education
6 Kindergarten Administration
7 Kindergarten Cooks
8 Kindergarten Teacher Aide
- Early Learning Teachers
9 Kohanga Reo Kaiako
Tertiary education
10 Tertiary Education Library Assistant
11 Tertiary Education Administration and Clerical
Public Service
12 Public Service Administration/Clerical Claim 1
13 Public Service Administration/Clerical Claim 2
14 Corrections Psychologist
15 Corrections Probation Officer and Senior Practitioner
Funded health
16 Social Service Workers (5 NGOs)
17 Primary practice nurses and health care assistants
18 CSWs 1
19 CSWs 2
20 CSWs 3
21 Front line Managers and Coordinators
22 Plunket Administration/Clerical
23 Plunket Nurses and Clinical
24 Community Midwives in Primary birthing units
25 Hospice Nurses and Health Care Assistants (Nurse Practitioners, RNs, ENs HCA)
26 Primary Care Administration
27 Primary Care Nurses
28 Access Community Nurses
29 Labtests Awanui
30 Nurses in Residential Care
31 NZ Artificial Limb Service
32 Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa
Local body
33 Librarian and Librarian Assistant in Councils
