Protest in Hamilton
Ending Pay Equity = Angry Women = Great Signs
Today I attended the protest for pay equity in Hamilton. It was raining and wet - not exactly great protest weather, but still, plenty of people turned out. I wore my gumboots and others came similarly prepared, with wet weather gear, brollies, and sensible boots.
It was very wet underfoot, so the gumboots were a great choice. It wasn’t cold, so the brolly was enough to keep me dry. Thank you to the union bloke who brought extra signs and shared one with me.
There was a sea of umbrella’s and people, out in the rain, protesting this governments decision to scrap 33 pay equity claims and make it more difficult for women to make claims in the future:
There were some incredible handmade signs on display:
Georgie Dansey and Holly Snape were both at the Hamilton protest and spoke very well indeed to the NZ Herald:
You can watch the full segment at the NZ Herald here.
Some other great Substacks on today’s protests, with quotes and pics:
The government started this pay equity process in April 2024.
That’s over a year ago.
Cabinet signed it off two months ago.
There was no reason for urgency - and never was.
A grotesque spectacle. Savings are being made by continuing to underpay women; these two smile like financial geniuses. It is a shameful attack by a panicked government, plunging a knife into the underpaid to make the books look better.
The government’s decision to use urgency to wipe out 33 in-progress pay equity claims violates democratic norms
This is part of a wider undervaluing of women’s work, a situation in which even the Labour Party is not wholly innocent
Refusing to increase pay for the likes of community support workers on $26.50 an hour may come back to haunt the government politically
As far back as December, Cabinet have been discussing the massive expense they’ve been fully aware of but haven’t wanted to pay. It was included in the forecasts, but the precise numbers were not released to the public, and now we have to all pretend to be surprised it’s so incredibly expensive because Nicola Willis doesn’t want to have to bother to find the money.
