Equal-pay paper ‘elates’ clerical assn

Press, 17 March 1987, Page 6

Equal-pay paper ‘elates’ clerical assn

The Clerical Workers’ Association had said more than a year ago that equal pay did not exist in New Zealand, said the secretary of the Canterbury Clerical Workers’ Union, Mr Leon Morel. The association was “elated” at the findings of the report, which showed equal pay did not exist in New Zealand, but it only justified what the association had been telling the employers all along, said Mr Morel.

In 1985, the clerical workers filed a claim for equal pay with employers, which was rejected. The union then took its claim to the Arbitration Court, which rejected it on a technical matter, said Mr Morel.

However, the report, compiled by a Victoria University economics lecturer, a State Services Commission social impact union member and Urban Research Associates, was only the first step in achieving equal pay. The second stage would be to take the claim to the Equal Pay Steering Committee, said Mr Morel.

He said the claim would meet with the opposition of the employers and the association would need “everyone to get behind it.” “Employers will be screaming and yelling even louder and longer after this finding,” said Mr Morel.

In Wellington, the Employers Federation have criticised coverage of the issue of the first part of the study on equal pay. saying publicity was too hasty, reports PA. One of the federation’s legal advisors, Barbara Burton, said phase one was really only an inquiry into the date available for a full study into the issue of equal pay for work of equal value. “It is just a preliminary inquiry and does not warrant the sort of publicity it is getting at this stage,” she said. “I don’t think it’s reached any sort of a conclusion yet.” The report’s co-author, Prue Hyman, said the decision to issue the report was the Labour Department’s rather than the group which compiled it.