NZEI Te Riu Roa has welcomed the Labour Party’s promise to reverse pay equity changes within its first 100 days in government, urging all other political parties to commit their support to upholding the value of women’s work.
NZEI Te Riu Roa national member leader Ally Kingi said the work of historically female-dominated education staff has long been undervalued due to systemic gender discrimination.
“Reversing this legislation is a crucial first step, but in a cost-of-living crisis, it must be matched by a commitment to properly fund pay equity so that our education workforce can finally get the fair pay they deserve,” Ms Kingi said.
In NZEI’s Platform for Change, the education union is seeking the repeal – within the first 100 days of government – of last year’s pay equity legislation, which scrapped 34 live claims overnight. It is also proposing to replace it with an updated 2020 Act so that claims and reviews can resume immediately.
Those impacted by last year’s changes include teachers, psychologists, education advisors, and service managers.
The changes also halted review processes for school therapists, teacher aides, librarians, science technicians, kaiārahi i te reo, and administration staff.
NZEI Te Riu Roa has long championed pay equity, winning a settlement for teacher aides in November 2020 that increased pay by 19% to 30%.
“For teacher aides, pay rates have slipped backwards by up to 17% against male comparators since their 2020 pay equity settlement, and there is now little recourse to address this,” Ms Kingi said.