Newly released Government documents reveal the lengths to which ministers went to avoid scrutiny and ignore official advice on their decision to gut the Equal Pay Act and cancel pay equity claims.
"These documents reveal that the Government did everything in its power to shut down public debate on pay equity in an effort to stop over 300,000 women from being paid what they're worth," said NZCTU Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges.
"Ramming the legislation through Parliament under urgency with no select committee process was bad enough, but it is now clear that the Government intentionally denied the public transparency and accountability in a highly orchestrated and underhanded campaign.
"Ministers went to extraordinary lengths to keep their plans secret and prevent workers from taking claims while they still had an avenue to do so.
"The documents also reveal that officials warned that the secretive and rushed process limited proper scrutiny of the policy and could lead to unintended consequences, but this advice was evidently ignored.
"Officials also noted that the changes retrospectively removed people's rights and could be breaches of the Human Rights Act and Bill of Rights Act.
"Attempts to silence opposition have failed – women workers and their allies continue to rise up and demand the reversal of claim cancellations and will be coming together in an unprecedented Women's Day of Action on September 20," said Ansell-Bridges.
