Submission for the NGO Shadow Report on CEDAW, Module 2

While the CTU is concerned about all of the issues affecting women, this response to the Shadow Report focuses primarily on employment. The CTU response has a very strong focus on pay and employment equity because of the centrality of pay and employment equity to almost all employment issues affecting the women our unions represent. We see pay and employment equity as a key component of a range of policies that can contribute to narrowing the gender pay gap and improving workplace equity for women, including collective bargaining, the minimum wage, paid parental leave, flexible work arrangements and early childhood education access.

The CTU strongly recommends that the New Zealand CEDAW Shadow Report address the following issues:

• Regressive action by the current government in relation to achieving pay and employment equity in the public sector, Crown entities, state owned enterprises and local government
• Closing the Pay & Employment Equity Unit in the Department of Labour
• Axing the pay investigations of female dominated occupations to assess and negotiate equal pay for work of equal value, including the two already completed
• The lack of commitment to implement the pay and employment equity reviews in the core public health and education sectors
• Lack of legislative mechanisms to operationalise and implement the principle of equal pay for work of equal value
• Lack of improvement of paid parental leave entitlements and the exclusion of seasonal and casual workers from paid parental leave entitlements 
• High prevalence of low pay among women workers especially those in part time and precarious work and the low minimum wage that disproportionately impacts on women
• Lack of promotion and support to implement flexible working hours legislative arrangements 
• Need to promote collective bargaining that would improve wages and employment conditions for women.

See below to read the full submission.