More than 1300 Oranga Tamariki social workers will receive a significant pay rise, following the latest pay equity agreement.
The workers will see an average increase of 30.6 percent over the next two years, costing the Government a total of $144.6 million over five years.
Minister for Children Tracey Martin said the agreement showed how under-valued female dominated professions had been in New Zealand.
The pay equity agreement comes after more than a year of negotiations between PSA’s pay equity working groups and Oranga Tamariki.
“This is another demonstration of this Government’s commitment to pay equity for all women in New Zealand. Just a week after we celebrated 125 years of women’s suffrage, this decision recognises a historic gender-based undervaluation of Oranga Tamariki social workers, who perform vital work in keeping children and families safe,” Martin said.
Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss said the agency’s social workers were at the frontlines of building loving and lifelong relationships for children, to help them reach their potential, and that should be valued.
PSA national secretary Erin Polaczuk said the agreement was a “true trail blazer for the undervalued profession of social work”.
It is expected social workers in NGOs and DHBs will also be affected by the pay agreement, and discussions with these social workers are underway.
The deal, which has been agreed by Cabinet, and was expected to be ratified on Tuesday, comes hot on the heels of the landmark aged care workers pay equity settlement, led by Kristine Bartlett.
In Bartlett’s Terranova case, the Employment Court agreed there was systemic undervaluation of care and support work because it was mainly performed by women, and said the 1972 equal pay legislation allowed the case to be tested in court.
The Government settled out of court, expanding the claim to include home care and disability sector workers as well as aged residential care workers in the settlement.
Bartlett’s five-year legal battle led to 55,000 low-paid, mainly female, care and support workers earn a pay rise worth a total of $2 billion across the sector.
While the pay increases were significant for those affected, wage figures for the June quarter show the care and support worker settlement, which came into effect in July 2017, only had a small impact on overall wage inflation to date.
Annual wage inflation in the June quarter for the private sector was 2.1 percent, taking into account the aged care worker equal pay agreement. Excluding the impact of the settlement, wage inflation was 1.7 percent. The gender pay gap remained at 9.2 percent in the June quarter.
In June, the Government also struck a pay equity deal with mental health and addiction workers, who had been initially excluded from the care and support workers settlement.
The $173.5m pay equity deal will affect about 500 workers.
Meanwhile, the Government has introduced a bill that aims to make it easier for workers to lodge pay equity claims.
Last week, on the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage, The Equal Pay Amendment Bill was introduced to the House.
Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said the aim was to create a more simple and accessible process within New Zealand’s existing bargaining framework.
