Fight for pay equity goes to UN

It was one year ago on 6 May 2026 since the gutting of the pay equity laws that put an end to the teachers’ pay equity claim and to 32 other claims of workers in female-dominated occupations.

A year on, the fight to have these claims restored and the changes to the legislation rescinded has been taken to the global stage. The Pay Equity Coalition Aotearoa (PECA), a group of 20 organisations including PPTA, is taking a formal complaint to the United Nations (UN). The complaint asks the Committee for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to investigate whether the Government's changes to New Zealand's pay equity laws amount to systemic discrimination against women.

PPTA Te Wehengarua Executive member, Clare Preston, is one of four women workers who are named in the complaint as victims of the changes to pay equity legislation.

Clare, who teaches social sciences at Wellington High School, has been involved with the teachers’ pay equity claim for many years. She took part in the interview process that sought to evaluate the true scope and range of skills and responsibilities possessed by teachers. When the pay equity changes locked secondary teachers out of a pay equity claim, she turned her efforts to the repeal of the legislation, and the restoration of the teachers’ pay equity claim.

Speaking at an event to mark the first anniversary of the pay equity changes and to announce the UN complaint, Clare said the assault on the Equal Pay Act of 1972 was utterly deplorable. “It rendered the intent of the Equal Pay Act null and void as these changes prevent the closing of the gender pay gap.

“It is working people who hold the mana of making this country function, and the story of equal pay for work of equal value for us wāhine is not finished”, she said.
Clare is joined by Early Childhood Education teacher Mel Burgess, teacher aide Ally Kingi, and support worker Tamara Baddelley, as the women named in the UN complaint.

Dame Judy McGregor, former Equal Opportunities Commissioner and PECA spokesperson, says lodging the complaint elevates this matter to a global stage. “This is no longer just a domestic policy debate. It raises serious questions about whether the law now enables state-sponsored discrimination against women, and what that means for New Zealand’s commitment to fairness and human rights.”

The UN complaint comes after the People’s Select Committee on Pay Equity found that the process by which pay equity was dismantled in New Zealand was a ‘flagrant and significant abuse of power” and a significant breach of human rights.

The United Nations will now assess whether the complaint is admissible. If the complaint is accepted, it will be sent to the New Zealand Government for a response. The CEDAW Committee will consider the case and provide its views and recommendations.