NZEI Te Riu Roa is calling for the immediate repeal of the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025, warning that the legislation has enabled historic gender bias to return to the education sector.
The Coalition Government scrapped key provisions of the 2020 Equal Pay Act under urgency last year. This move has made it virtually impossible for pay equity claims or reviews to succeed, depriving underpaid women workers such as teacher aides and carers of at least $12 billion that the previous government had set aside to fund settlements.
The education union's demand follows today's report from the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity, which presented a suite of recommendations to Parliament to restore pay parity.
NZEI Te Riu Roa President Ripeka Lessels said the union fully endorses the Committee's findings, particularly the call for an independent pay equity unit.
"We need a resourced, independent body to prevent political interference from dictating the value of education work," says Mrs Lessels. "The 2025 changes were fast-tracked without consultation, rolling back decades of progress."
The removal of mandatory review clauses means teacher aides have no means to close a 17 per cent pay gap that has ballooned since their 2020 pay equity settlements.
"The 2025 Act removed the only safeguard and solution we had," Teacher aide and NZEI Te Riu Roa national member leader Ally Kingi said.
"After years of demonstrating that our work has been systematically undervalued, the Government has effectively slammed the door on pay equity."