Category: Media releases

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Working for free for seven weeks – The Gender Pay Gap is not closing fast enough

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

There has been disappointingly little progress in closing the gender pay gap in the last year despite continued low unemployment, wage growth, and strong labour demand says NZCTU Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges following the release of labour market data by Statistics NZ.

The overall gender pay gap has persisted across the past decade.

Last year, the NZCTU calculated that on average women started working effectively for free on 23 November 2022. This year the data shows that this has now closed slightly to 26 November.

NZCTU National Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges said, “Ten years ago women started working for free on 14 November. Despite all the huge strides we have made since then in terms of pay equality, we are still working 36 days a year for free. It underlines the need for more urgent effort from employers and the Government on this issue.”

When ethnicity is taken into consideration, the picture is even starker. The gap for Pasifika women means that in comparison to Pakeha men, they start working for free on 7 October. Māori women start working for free on 20 October. European women start working for free on 21 November. These dates show that women of all ethnicities are still facing discrimination in employment.

“With the mean gender wage gap now at 9.8%, the case for change could not be clearer. All employers should make sure that equal work is paid equally. We need greater pay transparency urgently. Last week’s announcement on pay reporting by the Government is a great start, but we need to go further and faster.

“These results show why the ethnic pay gap must also be reported on. We should also ban clauses in contracts preventing workers discussing their pay and require employers to include pay ranges in job adverts.

“This data underlines why Fair Pay Agreements are critical in New Zealand. They will provide transparency around basic pay for all workers and will ensure that women are not treated unfairly.

“Fair Pay Agreements will help reduce pay gaps and will highlight inequities in workplace pay. Not only are they good for women, but they are also good for all New Zealand workers.”  

Work for free day – women
All Women European Women Māori Women Pacific Peoples Women Asian Women Māori Women
Compared to all men Sun, 26 Nov 2023 Wed, 06 Dec 2023 Fri, 03 Nov 2023 Sat, 21 Oct 2023 Mon, 13 Nov 2023 Tue, 31 Oct 2023
Compared to European men Sat, 11 Nov 2023 Tue, 21 Nov 2023 Fri, 20 Oct 2023 Sat, 07 Oct 2023 Mon, 30 Oct 2023 Wed, 18 Oct 2023

 

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Proposed Additional Paid Parental Leave Offer Welcomed

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The Labour Party campaign pledge to increase the level of paid parental leave is welcome news for thousands of expectant parents says NZCTU Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges. “Offering an additional 4 weeks of paid leave for the non-primary partner will mean that families will be able to spend more time together during an incredibly important time”.

Ansell-Bridges said “The CTU has long campaigned for extra support for families. We know that many parents want to spend time with their partners during the earliest days, but are prevented from doing so due to financial and work pressures. Overseas this sort of support is common and has helps to engage partners further”.

This CTU is also welcoming the Labour Party’s commitment to reviewing paid parental leave settings after the election. “Changes such as supporting parents through maintaining kiwisaver contributions are welcome, but we need to further to ensure that parents have all the support they need. The CTU has called for New Zealand to adopt international best practice and bring forward a model like that in Iceland, where parents receive 39 weeks paid parental leave support”.

Ansell-Bridges said “Paid parental leave is such an important issue in New Zealand. We hope that the need for additional support for parents should be above politics. We look forward to working with whoever is in office after the election to make sure that additional support is available for New Zealand workers”.

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Pay transparency announcement a win for workers

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions welcomes today’s announcement on progressing pay transparency in New Zealand.

This morning, Minister for Women Jan Tinetti and Associate Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Priyanca Radhakrishnan, announced that pay gap reporting would be made mandatory for businesses with more than 250 staff. After four years, this would include businesses with over 100 staff.

NZCTU National Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges said the announcement was a great start to improving the culture of pay transparency.

“We know that a culture of greater transparency will empower working people to continue to improve their pay.”

Ansell-Bridges also encouraged the Government to ensure that ethnic pay gaps would be included as well.

“Research shows us that income inequity is compounded further for ethnic minorities. All marginalised workers need action on pay transparency.

“We think every worker should have access to greater pay transparency and hope to see the range of businesses included increase in the future. We would also like to see prohibitions on pay confidentiality clauses and requirements to advertise pay ranges in job ads.”

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NZCTU welcomes Commerce Commission’s inquiry into banking sector

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions is today welcoming the release of the Commerce Commission interim issues paper on the market study into personal banking services.

NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff said the initial research was staggering.

“Yesterday, Westpac workers were on strike for better wages after an insulting offer. Today, we hear from the Commerce Commission that banks are more profitable here than in comparable economies over the past decade.”

The Commission has said that it will examine the level of profits being made by our biggest banks.

“As a country, we deserve a safe banking sector, one that looks after the needs of New Zealanders. That’s not the same thing as a sector that is drawing huge profits at the expense of consumers and workers.

“Everyone should be contributing to reducing our current cost of living challenges. We fully support the Commerce Commission in its decision to investigate this further – coming off the back of studies by the Reserve Bank and the Treasury which make similar findings.

“Higher profits within the sector should be rewarding those who are directly responsible for the generation – the workers in the banking sector. We would urge Westpac to work with FIRST Union to provide a solution to the current strike.”

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Confusion and uncertainty casting a cloud on future of Ports of Auckland

Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union has warned how uncertainty around new proposals for Ports of Auckland is a threat to the stability of the Auckland and the wider economy.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Craig Harrison says there is growing concern about the direction of the port debate.

The Auckland Council is considering options behind closed doors to relocate the Ports to make way for ‘water features.’

It is also reviewing options to sell an operating lease for the Ports to a global network terminal operator, and has commissioned consultants to seek expressions of interest.

Mr Harrison says there seemed to be no clear idea as to what the end goal was, the costs involved, and how the plan would work in practice.

He says it is unclear how simultaneously privatizing and relocating the Port is going to work let alone the proposed waterfront redevelopment.

“This latest proposal for pools and barbies on the waterfront is simply not serious.”

He says it makes no sense for the Council to commit to massive expenditure on waterfront redevelopment when claiming Auckland was in financial crisis and cutting the budget for parks and libraries for the rest of Auckland.

“It is unclear what is the primary motive – is it to come up with short term band aid for Auckland’s financial issues, is it to hand over commercial real estate to developers, or is it to provide salt water pools for well off central city dwellers?”

Mr Harrison says the primary purpose of the Ports of Auckland was to facilitate trade and the Port was doing a good job at this.

He says on the hoof decision making with no clear strategy for future operations was a dangerous way to approach the future of New Zealand’s major import port.

“Remember that any of these schemes will add to congestion and rising costs for business and consumers if they disrupt port operations.”

The Ports is going through the a period of growth and stability under new leadership and it was a priority not to undermine this positive progress, says Mr Harrison.

“The cost of the failed automation project of the previous management was estimated at a $1.2 billion hit to the economy, and another failed experiment could cause even greater harm.”

Mr Harrison says any attempt to move or relocate port operations would be an extremely complex, expensive and long term project that needed to be part of a wider ports strategy.

He says the Northport option is currently a fantasy given the lack of infrastructure, no existing rail link, no coastal shipping plan, and already congested road links that were vulnerable to extreme weather events.

“Yet we are talking about effectively adding thousands more truck moves on some of the busiest roads in the country if we go down this track.”

Mr Harrison says New Zealand needs a national ports strategy that integrates coastal shipping and rail, with a focus on supply chain resilience in a volatile global environment.

He says the Ports of Auckland should remain in public ownership as a strategic asset that was central to Auckland and New Zealand’s economy.

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Unemployment data continues to show stronger economy

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

Today Statistics New Zealand released data showing the labour market holding strong, with unemployment at 3.6% and record numbers of people in work, working a record number of hours.

NZCTU Economist Craig Renney said “There are 113,000 more people in work than this time last year, with more than 2.9 million people in work. The unemployment rate in New Zealand is now the same as Australia, and better than the US, the UK, and the OECD average. This data shows a stable labour market, with continuing labour demand.”

“This data underlines the recovery from COVID, with employment in tourism related industries returning to their pre-COVID levels. Overall, there was annual employment growth in the 13 of the 17 sectors measured. The employment rate for women increased to 65.4% the highest rate since the series began in March 1986.”

Wages growth moderated in the statistics. The Labour Cost Index remained at 4.3%, despite the Minimum Wage rising in this quarter. Average hourly earnings growth slowed to 6.9%, down from 7.5% in September last year. Private sector pay growth continues to outperform public sector growth. “This is a strong set of labour market data. There are still many areas where more work is needed. Maori, Pasifika, and female unemployment is still too high. Too many young people are not in education, employment or training. But this data does not suggest an economy in crisis. More people being in work, earning more, should be celebrated.”

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Billions missing to deliver National Party promises, says NZCTU

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions has today released costings showing a current funding shortfall of at least $3.3-5.2 billion in the National Party’s tax and spending plans.

The true gap is likely to be even larger, as many of National’s publicly stated policy commitments were either uncosted or were too vague to be included in the analysis.

NZCTU Economist Craig Renney says the shortfall raises concerns about the impact on crucial public services that New Zealanders rely upon.

“Our costings show National has spent around two dollars for every dollar available over the next
three years. Further billions are likely from the policies that they have not yet costed or will likely announce on the campaign trail.

“A shortfall of this magnitude can only be accounted for by raising debt, increasing other taxes, or slashing funding for critical public services like healthcare, education, and police.

“Given National has ruled out raising debt or increasing taxes, this can only mean billions of dollars in cuts to our already stretched public services. Cuts of this scale would have severe consequences for the people who depend on these services and the workers who deliver them.

“National must be upfront about where these cuts would come from. New Zealanders deserve to know long before the election what programmes will be cut, what investment wouldn’t get made, and how National will balance the books – because on these plans they aren’t.”

The NZCTU took on this task of costing National’s policies as, in contrast to other opposition parties in recent elections, National has yet to release its fully costed fiscal plan.

“It is essential for opposition parties to be transparent and accountable by sharing comprehensive fiscal plans. National cannot promise billions in tax cuts and pretend there will be no impact on our stretched public services.

“If National disagrees with this analysis, we invite them to present a fully costed alternative budget of their own, one that costs all of their policies and is clear about where the money will come from, including which public services will be cut.”

Methodology

The NZCTU’s analysis is based on publicly available information from the Treasury and IRD. The NZCTU has used the most generous interpretations when costing National’s policies. Even when disagreeing with National’s costings of their own policies, the NZCTU used National’s figures.

According to Treasury, there is $3.5 billion of new operational spending available in each of the 3 years of the next term.

Treasury also notes that at least $2.8 billion in cost pressures funding will be needed in each year to maintain our existing public services. This figure is just to keep delivering the same services as the previous year. It does not account for population increase, demographic changes, or new services.

That leaves around $700 million in ‘new’ money that is available each year, or $4.2 billion over three years.

National has set out between $7.5 billion and $9.4 billion of new spending over that period that we can identify based on their tax and spending commitments that are able to be costed. This is two dollars for every dollar available, leading to a fiscal gap of at least $3.3 billion to $5.2 billion.

No costs have been assigned to National’s vaguer policy commitments, although they should provide that analysis. This costing also assumes no further policies from National during the election campaign, or any governing partners’ policies. It also provided no contingency for emerging needs such as natural disasters or future Budgets. This is the minimum amount that they will need to cut to balance the books.

The analysis and the numbers within were reviewed by Dr Geoff Bertram, Economist and Former Senior Associate at the Institute of Government and Policy Studies at Victoria University.

The figures do not take into account the National Party’s transport announcement yesterday, though as these are delivered through the National Land Transport Fund, they will not have a material impact on the NZCTU’s costings.