Nurses say case against pay equity vintage 1972

Press, 19 December 1989, Page 9

Nurses say case against pay equity vintage 1972

Employers and the National Party are using the same arguments against pay equity that they used to oppose the Equal Pay Act of 1972, Nurses Union spokeswoman Trish Mullins says, reports the New Zealand Press Association, from Wellington. “Those arguments about women losing jobs or the procedure being too bureaucraic didn’t hold any water in 1972, and they don’t hold any water today,” she says. The Government has introduced pay equity legislation to Parliament. The bill establishes the mechanism under which unions or groups of 20 or more women in a female occupation can seek an employment equity assessment.

It also provides for the setting up of equal employment programmes by employers. National MP Katherine O’Regan’s argument that legislation could not remove discrimination because it lay in the hearts and minds of human beings, denied the major impact of legislation throughout New Zealand’s history, Ms Mullins says. “How does Katherine O’Regan think women were able to stand for Parliament or to vote if it wasn’t legislation?” Ms Mullins asked. “Discrimination may still be in some people’s hearts but legislation gives women a shield and a sword to defend themselves.” Registered nurses, for example, received $23,192 to $27,768 a year compared to police officers’ salaries of $37,655 to $44,748. “This is despite the fact that registered nurses have done three years training compared with the six-month police course,” she said.