95bFM Pay Equity Amendment Bill ‘takes us back 50 years'
9 May, 2025
Interviews by Oto Sequiera and Sara Mckoy, adapted by Sara Mckoy
E Tū Union’s Rachel Mackintosh and the University of Auckland’s Simon Schofield say the recently passed Pay Equity Amendment Bill will significantly impact women workers.
On the 6th of May, Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden abruptly announced new legislation which would make critical changes to the Equal Pay Act 1972.
The Pay Equity Amendment Bill, which passed through all stages in Parliament, makes the criteria for pay equity claims stricter and discontinues 33 existing claims, affecting thousands of workers.
The Government defended the decision, with Associate Finance Minister David Seymour saying the change would save “billions” and van Velden saying the bill would benefit businesses and women in the workforce.
Responses from union leaders, legal experts, and opposition parties have concertedly rejected the government’s claims that the bill is good news for pay equity claims.
E Tū Union National Secretary, Rachel Mackintosh, told 95bFM’s The Wire that the law change is “morally bankrupt” and says the Pay Equity Amendment Bill will negatively impact women.
“It takes us back 50 years.”
“It sends a signal to women workers that [the] work that they do is not valued, that saving money in order to funnel it to the wealthy is more important than justice and equity and valuing the work that women have been doing for centuries.”
In response to van Velden’s argument that pay equity laws were previously “too broad” and cannot genuinely provide evidence of gender-based discrimination, Mackintosh says the government ‘deeply misunderstands’ how pay equity works.
“[Brooke van Velden] said in a press conference that you can't [compare work by women to] male-dominated work in a different industry; that’s just plain wrong… they are quite different work, but the level of complexity, the level of responsibility, and the importance of the outcomes of that work, they're actually quite comparable.”
University of Auckland Law School teaching fellow Simon Schofield told The Wire that one of the main concerns is the lack of public consultation and engagement.
“These issues are complex, and you don't solve them within 48 hours. The Government has its agenda and, its agenda is not to treat those issues as a priority.”
He argues that public engagement will still take place despite the government’s success in passing this legislation.
“The approach the Government has taken, where it's been very clandestine, is going to lead to a lot of discussion.”
Mackintosh says protests are in preparation, and members of E Tū will challenge the government on this decision.
“We will stand up and have our voices heard. We want to extract the biggest political price from this government, and we want to get rid of them.
