More than 1000 people turned out to protest against the controversial pay equity law change in Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Rowan Quinn
Furious women and their supporters have rallied around the country today, saying they are under attack from the government's sudden change to pay equity laws.
One care and support worker challenged Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to come and change a nappy - saying he is out of touch with the work they do.
The law change, rushed through parliament under urgency this week, made it harder to make a case for workers in professions dominated by women to have their pay increased in line with equivalent jobs done by men. It stopped 33 existing claims in their tracks.
Aucklander Anna MacDonald was one of more than 1000 women and men who braved the rain to march to Brooke Van Velden's office in the Auckland suburb of St Johns.
"I'm a pissed off woman....It was just down right sneaky... I think they grossly underestimated us. I think they thought it would sneak through and no one would bat an eyelid but they were so wrong."
Before marching to the office, protesters gathered for a fiery rally nearby.
Care worker Sushilla Davi told the crowd about how people like her leave their own families, including young children, at home to go out and care for the people who need them.
Many struggled to buy good food and pay basic bills, and the government was completely out of touch, she said.
A protest against the controversial pay equity law change outside the Tāmaki electorate office of Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel
"I would like to invite Luxon...and all of them to come and change a dirty nappy," she said to cheers from fellow protesters
Library assistant Suzie Moore said she had never spoken to a crowd like the one gathered before.
She was gutted because their pay equity claim had been nearly finished and now they would have to start again.
"Let me tell you something about library workers. We are not meek!" she said. "We are angry, we are in disbelief actually. How can this happen?"
The protest spent about 15 minutes outside Brooke van Velden's office but she did not make an appearance.
The anger continued in Christchurch where about 100 people met outside the office of Minister for Women Nicola Grigg.
PSA organiser Tracie Palmer, who represented care and support workers, said the government has thrown out years of work.
"These workers are... low paid, they're poor, they work weekends. This is absolutely appalling and I think the people who are against us need to think about who is going to care for them if they get hurt, or they get old, or they get sick because these workers are exhausted and our claim has been ruined. We are gutted," she said.
In Dunedin, more than 100 people armed with banners, placards and umbrellas protested in the rain, chanting 'shame' and "What's outrageous? Gendered wages".
Protesters in Dunedin to condemn the government's controversial pay equity law change and call for the decision to be reversed. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
Community care and support worker Rebecca Miller said they got so close to having their pay equity claim signed off only to have it taken away from them.
The threshold changes effectively killed their chance of making another claim and it meant many working women would continue to struggle while working on lower wages, Miller said.
"Day to day living, it's groceries, it's being able to go to a doctor's appointment, to support their families, their children ... to pay bills, to actually be able to afford put a heater on in your house because you're not afraid of your big power bill," she said.
She has to use her own vehicle to go between clients.
If their claim had gone through, she said it would have been boosted beyond the current set rate which didn't cover their petrol costs, insurance or general wear and tear despite travelling 45 minutes or more to see some clients.
Miller said support workers helped people to stay in their own homes for longer yet they were undervalued.
"But without carers doing that, they're going to have to go in rest homes. They're going to have to stay longer in hospital," she said.
"Where do they think these people are going to go and who do they think are going to care for these people?"
Unions Otago spokesperson Jen Wilson said the decision was an outrageous attack on working women.
"Which is depriving thousands of women the opportunity to pursue their existing claims and which we fear will make it virtually impossible for future claims," she said.
The change would directly harm women and their families under the guise of fiscal prudence and reverse decades of hard-won progress to eliminate the gender pay gap, Wilson said.
But she said they would not give up the fight against this injustice.
In New Plymouth, a hardy group of pay equity protester picketed New Plymouth MP David McLeod's office in New Plymouth.
Pay equity protesters brave torrential downpour to picket New Plymouth MP David McLeod's office. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Client services manager at the NP Women's Centre, Leanne Crowe, said women were fed up.
"We are not happy about the decisions being made around women's pay," she said.
"This is nothing new it happens over and over again and we're getting ripped off."
Healthcare worker Jen said her concern was decades of work to create fair pay brackets for women was being scrapped.
"To me that work seems to being squashed overnight without consultation or care or a chance to rebut or give a response to it.
"Most of my colleagues can't be here because they are working so hard to put food on the table for their families and I came to represent them.
"Too much work has gone into undermining marginalized people in general and now women are next. Just where does it stop."
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