Women representing over 300,000 workers in female-dominated industries affected by the Government’s cuts to New Zealand’s pay equity system delivered a 93,000-signature petition to opposition MPs at Parliament today.

But the Minister responsible for pay equity, Brooke van Velden, dismissed it as ‘just a petition,’ saying it’s fewer than expected and won’t change her mind.

Workers are making the case to MPs that the changes have impacted not just them but also the essential work they do to support education, health, families and communities.

E Tū Union, co-president, Muriel Tunoho, says she is proud of how much support the petition has garnered and if it doesn’t change the mind of the government, she encourages everyone to turn up to the general election to vote for change.

“This government slammed the door shut on all of the pay equity claims and 33 pay equity claims that affect 180,000 women, actually women workers that have been undervalued and underpaid.“

PPTA delegate and secondary school teacher, Clare Preston, says the move has undone so much.

The gutting of pay equity claims has reversed decades of progress to correct pay rates for women, but we are heartened that tens of thousands of New Zealanders are supporting us,” Preston said.

“The Government has made it virtually impossible for people in female-dominated industries to be paid fairly, but this petition shows that women will not be deterred in our fight to achieve pay equity for all,” said PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.

The petition was delivered to Labour’s spokesperson for Women, Jan Tinnetti and Greens Kahurangi Carter, who said it’s really simple.

“We want pay equity, we want our daughters to be paid fairly, and it’s 2025, let’s get with the programme.”

She says Màori and Pasifika women in particular are carers and the backbones of our communities.

“These are the roles that are traditionally underpaid in Aotearoa. Compared to non-Māori, Māori are paid much less; it is not good enough, and these changes will impact our wāhine directly.” She said.

Coalition response - “Just a petition”

The Workplace Minister, Brooke van Velden, says the number of signatures is very low considering the number of people it is impacting.

”From the numbers that I saw, I was surprised at how small it was. To be honest, given that we said that there was potentially 180,000 people affected by the changes, my understanding is fewer than half of that have signed a petition, and I don’t know who has actually signed the petition.“

“Ëverybody has a right to a view. Everybody’s got the right to sign a petition, but this is just another petition,” she said.

The coalition government announced in early May it would use urgency in Parliament to raise the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued when making a pay equity claim.

van Velden said at the time, claims had been able to progress without strong evidence of undervaluation, and it was difficult to tell whether differences in pay were due to sex-based discrimination or something else.

The move cancelled 33 in-progress pay equity claims, and saved the government 12.8 billion dollars just before the 2025 budget.

While these changes will mean all current pay equity claims will be discontinued, new claims can be raised under the amended Act if they meet the new requirements.

According to the Ministry for Women, the gender pay gap in New Zealand has reduced steadily from 16.3% in 1998, but progress has slowed.

It is currently 8.2% as of 2024.

Ministry research shows the gender pay gap for wāhine Māori, Pacific, ethnic, and disabled women is significantly higher than the national gender pay gap.

This is reflected by higher rates of unemployment, underutilisation, and underemployment, as well as persistent pay gaps when compared to men.