Hipkins promises to reverse pay equity changes
September 29, 2026
Summarised by Centrist
Chris Hipkins has pledged to reverse the Government’s pay equity law changes within the first 100 days of a Labour government, with care and support workers first in line for settlement negotiations.
Speaking to nearly 200 people at a Christchurch community meeting, Hipkins condemned the 2025 changes for cancelling existing claims through legislation passed under urgency without consultation.
“When we have reversed that change, care and support workers will be the first in the queue to sit down with to get a settlement because you've waited long enough,” he said.
Hipkins also promoted Labour’s student-loan, apprenticeship and solar policies. He said Labour would explain how its promises would be funded after reviewing the Government’s pre-election financial update.
Editor’s note: Pay equity goes beyond paying, say, a male and female police officer equally for the same work. Employment New Zealand distinguishes equal pay for the same work from pay equity for different work assessed as having equal value.
“Equity” calls for an arbitrary and artificial comparison of female-dominated work with entirely different male-dominated jobs. These comparisons can cross very different occupations. A Cabinet paper, Table 5, records school librarians being assessed against corrections officers, and social workers against air traffic controllers. Calling those jobs comparable requires an argument about their skills, demands and responsibilities. The word “equity” is not that argument.
The 2025 changes discontinued existing claims and changed the requirements for new ones. The single most impactful change was it increased the percentage that has to be female to 70% over 10 years from 60% at any point in time. the barThey did not abolish the right to equal pay for the same work or remove every route to a pay equity claim.
The cost of this change, to the government, has been bandied about, in the range of $10 to 13 billion over 4 years.
Read more about pay equity here.
Image: Dhantegge
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