The Public Service Association says the cancelled pay equity claim covering around 65,000 care and support workers remains ready to settle, arguing the evidence of longstanding undervaluation did not disappear when the claim was stopped.
PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons says work completed before the 2025 changes to the Equal Pay Act found care and support workers were undervalued by between 24 and 38 percent compared with male-dominated occupations requiring comparable skills, responsibilities and effort.
The claim was one of 33 discontinued when the Government changed the pay equity system in May 2025. The Government argued the changes were necessary to create a more workable and financially sustainable system, while unions have strongly opposed the reforms and are campaigning for them to be reversed.
The PSA says the evidence underpinning the care and support claim had already been gathered using comparator occupations across Corrections, Customs, Fisheries and health. It argues that means a future government could move quickly towards a settlement rather than requiring workers to repeat years of work.
With pay equity becoming a significant election issue, the PSA is calling for the next Government to fund and settle the care and support workers’ claim within its first 100 days and restore the previous pay equity framework.
Fitzsimons joins Ata Tū on Radio Waatea to discuss what cancellation of the claim has meant for workers, the evidence of undervaluation and what the PSA wants political parties to commit to ahead of the November election.
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