July 02, 2024
Care workers rally for pay equity
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Care and support workers yesterday rallied across Aotearoa to support their battle for pay equity.
E Tū union, the Public Service Association and the New Zealand Nurses Association lodge the claim under the Equal Pay Act in 2022, citing a 2017 Supreme Court ruling that care and support work was systematically undervalued because it’s mostly done by women.
About 20 percent of the 65,000 affected workers are Māori.
E Tū assistant national secretary Rachel MackIntosh says care workers help New Zealanders who can’t do the simple tasks of life easily.
“What it does, is it gives people dignity who need that assistance to have dignity, things that a lot of people take for granted, just being able to get up, get dressed, have a shower, if people can’t do that without assistance that is vital for them to just live a life with some dignity,” she says.
The unions are looking for funding to keep the pay equity claim afloat.