Council of Trade Unions secretary Sam Huggard said he would be paying more attention to the teacher strike than to NBR's rich list. Photo / File
Council of Trade Unions secretary Sam Huggard said he would be paying more attention to the teacher strike than to NBR's rich list. Photo / File
As rubberneckers pore over NBR's list of the country's wealthiest people, the Council of Trade Unions says inequality in the New Zealand workforce has never been more pronounced.
Council of Trade Unions secretary Sam Huggard points out that the publication of the rich list today coincided with the national teacher strike and the release of data showing that the gender pay gap remains at 13 per cent.
Huggard says that while the numbers on either side tell disparate stories, they are both the product of policy decisions made in Government.
"It's not some accident that women in New Zealand are underpaid, nor that a select few hold such a huge percentage of our national wealth," Huggard said.
"These are the results of decisions. Decisions made by Governments and by voters. Decisions that are affected by influence and power."
Statistics NZ figures showed that the gender pay gap, currently at 9.2 per cent, has narrowed to its second-smallest level recorded in around 20 years.
In 2012 the gender pay gap sat at 9.1 per cent – the lowest ever recorded – and last year sat at around 9.4 per cent.
Despite this improvement, it's notable that the coverage of the rich list provided a glimpse at where wealth is concentrated in New Zealand society.
While there were several families listed, there were no women listed among the top 10 on the list.
Graeme Hart again topped the NBR's Rich List. Photo / File
Huggard said that narrowing of the gap was evidence that we were moving in the right direction, but added that it was only the start of the process.
Commenting on the recent bouts of strike action taking place around New Zealand, Huggard said that many New Zealanders were trying to make it clear that it was time for the Government to listen to them.
This, he said, included teachers losing pay to strike for better teaching conditions, nurses striking for a better health system and also ordinary New Zealander who will never appear anywhere near NBR's rich list.
"That's something Winston Peters understood when he ushered in a new government with a mandate to find the 'human face' of capitalism," he said.
"And it's what Jacinda Ardern told thousands of us on Parliament's lawn after she was sworn in - this was a Government that would stand with us."
He said he hopes to see the Government follow through on these promises with legislative changes that will protect the most vulnerable members of society.
"We need are pay equity legislation to ensure women are not discriminated against, and Fair Pay Agreements to ensure we stop competing by cutting working people's wages," he said.
"We need a just transition to ensure that nobody is left behind as we move to to a carbon neutral economy. And to future-proof our country, we need a decent tax base to look after our ageing population and our children too."
