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Public service staff discouraged from attending pay equity rally

30/06/2009 3:17:22 p.m.

The Public Service Association is angry that the Department of Labour is actively discouraging staff from attending today’s lunchtime rally at Parliament to protest pay discrimination against women
 
The Department of Labour has sent an email to its staff about the Pay and Employment Equity rally being held in front of Parliament at 12.30pm today.

The rally is being held to protest the fact that women in New Zealand earn on average 12 to 15 cents less an hour than men, because they’re women.

The protest is also highlighting the fact that on May14 the government scrapped the pay and employment equity unit at the Department of Labour cutting seven jobs. The unit was established to address the pay gap between men and women.

“We totally disagree with the department’s view that public service staff are not free to attend today’s rally,” says PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff.

“While there may be a question about a handful of staff attending the protest the vast majority of the department’s 1600 staff should be free to attend.”

“The department is hiding behind the public service code of conduct and denying its staff their political and civil rights.”

“It’s ironic that nearly 50 years after public service workers fought for and won the right for women in the public sector to receive the same pay for doing the same job as men, that they are now being denied the right to protest in support of pay and employment equity for women, ” says Richard Wagstaff.

Media contact Nick Hirst 027 600-5498. PSA National Secretary Richard Wagstaff 027 277 813

Public Service Association