No delay on equal pay

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32959, 4 July 1972, Page 12

No delay on equal pay

The Government has long espoused the principle of equal pay for equal work. When it commissioned an inquiry into equal pay last year the question was only how best to give effect to the principle in New Zealand. The Employers’ Federation submitted to the commission of inquiry that the economic and social implications of equal pay were so great that the idea should not be proceeded with “at this stage ”. As the commission said, this opinion was outside its order of reference. Last September the commission recommended that the Government promptly give notice of its intention to prepare legislation for equal pay and that this legislation provide for a step-by-step introduction of equal pay, beginning next year and ending on April 1, 1977. It had more than economic reasons for proposing this progressive implementing of equal pay. For many employers, any time chosen for introducing equal pay wiil be unfavourable; for some it will never be favourable enough. The Government has promised legislation for Parliament this session; and the Employers’ Federation is now trying to delay the first step until 1974. There may be some social costs, too, in spite of all the arguments in favour of equality: the care of the children of more working mothers and changes in the pattern of employment are among these. But the decision on equal pay has been made and the Government should delay no longer in requiring the community to pay the price for a change that is generally endorsed. At this stage any Government deciding to defer equal pay for any but the most compelling of reasons would deserve the rebuff it would certainly get. Even if there were impressive economic reasons for hesitating it is no longer possible to justify a decision that would place on women employees an unfair share of the burden of some economic difficulty. The change should be made even if it means continuing restraints on pay increases for men.

A problem within the problem of introducing equality is that industries employing a high proportion of women will be harder hit than others; or, rather, that the consumers of the products of some industries will have to accept greater price increases than thev are asked to accept for goods and services from other industries. The textile and clothing industries are among the most obvious examples of industries employing a high proportion of women. Equality in pay will become another factor to be taken into account in removing import licensing and in fixing tariffs when protection is required. When considering both competition from imports and the effect of equal pay on export prices it must be noted that other countries are introducing, or are about to introduce, equal pay. Unfortunately, in Australia the application of equal pay to occupations which are at present the preserve of women is much more limited than it is intended to be in New Zealand. The Employers’ Federation hopes that the New Zealand scheme will be modified on the lines of the Australian plan by exempting jobs done exclusively or predominantly by women. Acceptance of this plea would virtually negate the principle of equal pay itself. The Australian plan is no model.