Opposition Presses Women’s Claims For Equality Of Wages

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28080, 22 September 1956, Page 12

Opposition Presses Women’s Claims For Equality Of Wages

PARLIAMENT

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Sept. 21. Discussions were being held by the Government with both the Public Service Commission and the Public Service Association on the question of equal pay for equal work, said the Minister of Justice (Mr J. R. Marshall) in the House of Representatives today, during a discussion on the estimates of the commission.

Mr W . A. Fox (Opposition. Miramar) •aid that, if the Labour Party was returned as the Government, it would put the principle of equal pay for equal work into practice. The Prime Minister (Mr Holland) •aid that, according to present estimates, the cost to New Zealand if the equal-pay principle was applied would be £24.000.000 a year. If it was applied only to the Public Service, the cost would be £2,000.000 a year or more. Replying to the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Nash), who initiated the discussion, the Prime Minister said he was not in a very good position to make a statement of much value at present, because the Government itself had not discussed the issue at any length, nor had it yet considered the introduction of the required legislation.

It was difficult to determine the basis on which a single woman should be paid, said Mr Holland. If single women were asked to state a basis, they would choose the man’s. At that point could it be said that a woman was entitled to the pay of a married man with two children? If pay ity was introduced, it would mean an extra wage bill of about £24,000,000 a year, without one pennyworth more goods being produced. Where was the extra money to come from? said Mr Holland. T n the case of teachers, greater service could be expected from a male than from a female. The present average would be less than 10 years for women. Mr Nash said the British Government had decided there was to be equal pay for equal work, and thnt the principle would be applied progressively. It was logical that the position in New Zealand today should be examined. The answer to the matter of equal pav for equal work under equal conditions was not in the Court of Arbitration, where adjustments were made in accordance with increased production and in the consideration of costs. But what would the position be if there was a woman Prime Minister? Would she receive less than if she were a man? A woman Minister of the Crown received the same as other Ministers, said Mr Nash. Women Qualified as doctors and lawyers, but their fees

were no different from those of men. The Public Service could not be run without women. Mr Holland said he thought New Zealand had been slowly moving toward equal pay.. The pay of men and women tram conductors was the same, and men and women received equal pay in the Public Service in some circumstances. In the Public Service, the turnover of male employees was 10.9 per cent., and of females 25.4 per cent., said Mr Holland. The wastage was about double for women. But in orchestras men and women received equal pay. If the Government applied the principle of equal pay, private enterprise would have to follow, but how could conditions of equal pay exist in terms of 10.9 per cent, wastage for males and 25.4 per cent, for females? Mr E. J. Keating (Opposition, Hastings) said the Opposition realised the difficulties there were in applying the

rinciple of equal pay. but where there were clear-cut cases, the principle i could be brought in. If the principle was not accepted, it would then amount to exploitation of female labour. He suggested the Government could set up a commission to examine the issues. “Nothing Impractical” Mr Nash said there was nothing impractical in the application of the principle. A very large percentage of female employees in the Public Service were already on the £6OO salary level, and if the principle was applied, it would not cost the Public Service another £2,000,000. If women left the service, the Government would not have to pay the higher salaries. Those who stayed on should be allowed to reach the higher salary levels. Mr Marshall said the Government was doing something about the equal pay question in its discussions with the Public Service Commission and the Public Service Association. The question of equal pay was a matter for the Government to decide after it had considered all the facts. The Public Service Association had submitted a fairly full case to the Public Service Commission, and the proposal that a consultative committee should be set up was being considered by the Government.

Mr A. H. Nordmeyer (Opposition, Island Bay) said that, if a woman had been appointed to the Public Service Commission, would she not have received the same salary as the male members? Yet in the Health Department a woman was at the head of one division, and she received less than the male divisional heads.