In May last year the coalition betrayed New Zealand women by cancelling 33 pay equity claims and making future claims almost impossible.
When the Government gutted the Equal Pay Act through Parliamentary urgency, under the cover of darkness, we mobilised – and have not stopped fighting to reinstate these claims since.
We will leave no stone unturned until New Zealand women and their families have pay equity. We have rallied and picketed across the country in snap actions in the days following the May 2025 decision and in national days of action alongside other unions and community groups since.
We joined with four other unions in lodging a High Court claim, stating that by cancelling these claims without warning or consultation, the Government breached the Bill of Rights Act 1990. The case goes to the heart of who this Government values and who it doesn't.
We were instrumental in helping support the establishment of the People’s Select Committee on Pay Equity, led by Dame Marilyn Waring. The Committee did what the Government failed to do, by hearing from the public about how they’d be impacted by the claims’ cancellation. The Committee heard thousands of submissions, and released a report in February this year laying bare the Government’s betrayal of women.
The fact that New Zealand women had to create their own select committee to be heard is a profound indictment of this government.
As a union made up of over 70% women, representing members in female-dominated professions, we remain staunch in our battle to secure fair pay across all facets of our union.
This report is the next step in our fight. It tells the stories of the care and support workers impacted by the coalition government’s decision in May last year and of delays in renewing the care and support pay equity settlement before this.
This election, we are calling on all parties to commit to delivering genuine pay equity without delay. No more stalling. No more subterfuge. Women’s rights are not up for negotiation.
The report finishes with the PSA’s asks of all political parties this election on restoring pay equity and expediting the care and support workers claim – and the responses we have received.
READ THE REPORT
