Campaigning for Equal Pay
23 Jan 2020
Welcome to the PSA page for all things Equal Pay
On this page you'll find a variety of information, resources, updates, and more, to help you follow PSA's efforts to achieve Equal Pay for all. Such as:
- Equal Pay facts and figures
- Progress updates for our various Equal Pay claims
- A background to Equal Pay at PSA
- Equal Pay resources and documents
- Links to individual Equal Pay claim pages
It's 2020, and it's time women were paid 100%.
We need to keep our momentum up and ensure all working women are paid what they're worth.
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Admin & Clerical Pay Equity Claim - Official Media Release 30 November 2020 |
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Admin & Clerical Pay Equity Claim FAQs |
Jennifer Laulala talks about the effect of the gender pay gap, and the power of using your voice.
A court reporter and PSA member, Jennifer is an active committee member of the PSA Women's and Pasifika networks.
This footage was created for the Working Women's Resource Suffrage Fund project in January 2019.
Settled
2017 Care and Support workers
2018 Mental Health and Addiction support workers
2018 Oranga Tamariki social workers
In negotiation with employers
DHB admin/clerical workers - bargaining to start soon following the completion of interviews and data analysis
DHB allied health workers - terms of reference being finalised
DHB mental health nurses – 200 interviews being conducted across all DHBs
Local Government Library Assistants – claim made to six big councils, terms of reference being exchanged
NGO social workers and social service workers – letters sent to five employers raising pay equity claims
Public Service/ACC/Kāinga Ora – Claim lodged with 41 Organisations for Administrative/Clerical/Contact Centre and Customer Service Workers
Under consideration
Administration and support workers across PSA
The gender pay gap is the difference between the average hourly rate for women and for men. It’s closing at a snail’s pace, and we’ve still got a long way to go.
Women graduates are paid, on average, 6 per cent less than their male counterparts at the very start of their careers. Within four years, they are earning nearly $5,000 a year less and the gap continues to widen.
In the public sector, women are paid 14 per cent less than men but it’s an average that conceals massive pay gaps, up to a staggering 42 per cent at the Ministry of Defence. In the community public services sector, support work is paid around one-third less than work with similar levels of skills and qualifications but largely done by men.
The gender pay gap represents a huge loss of earnings over a working life that can severely limit a woman’s choices and those of her children. It can mean the difference between a comfortable retirement and scrimping on food and heating costs.
Equal Pay Terminology
Gender pay gap: Gap between women’s average pay and men’s average pay.
Equal pay: Same job, same pay. Different job but of equal value, same pay.
Pay equity: Same average pay for women and men.
Job evaluation: Tool to measure job size.
Click below to open the Champions for Change Gender Pay Gap factsheet
Admin & Clerical - Pay Equity Historic Milestone - 30 November media release + Stage 1 and 2
MBIE: Pay and employment equity
An employee’s pay, conditions, experiences in the workplace and access to jobs at all levels of their workplace should not be affected by gender.
MBIE: An Introduction to Pay Equity
A resource to help employees, employers, and unions understand the early stages of the pay equity claims process.
Download the form below and invite your peers to become Equal Pay Advocates.
Equal Pay Advocates are PSA members, male and female, who are the champions of pay equity in big and little ways in their individual workplaces and homes. Several of our sister unions have similar groups of members championing equal pay in their workplaces and our combined efforts can get the whole country behind us and achieve 100% equal pay in the next few years.
Download the Equal Pay Advocate Sign-Up Form
While they may be a few years old, the archived resources below all contain information worth preserving.
A series of tools and resources designed to address pay equity, provided by the State Services Commission.
The structure of the tools and resources is set out in the pay equity arrow diagram below to help users navigate and find the components they need.
Pay equity work assessment is part of the pay equity bargaining process. The diagram below shows a process flow starting with workers raising a claim through to pay equity negotiations/settlement. This resource is a tool for gathering information from those who carry out the work.
The questionnaire is designed to gather the information needed to apply the Pay Equity Factor Plan to assess the work. The following State Services Commission Te Kawa Mataaho (SSC) pay equity tools and resources relate to pay equity work assessment:
- Pay Equity in New Zealand - Context
- Pay Equity Work Assessment Process Guide
- Pay Equity Work Assessment Factor Plan User Handbook
- Pay Equity Work Assessment Factor Plan Questionnaire
- Pay Equity Claimant and Comparator Process Guide
- Template Terms of Reference for Pay Equity Bargaining
- Pay Equity Principles - Applying the Principles

Pay Equity Principles - The Process