TEU calls on tertiary leaders to back pay equity this International Working Women’s Day.
March 8, 2026
TEU Media Release
Today on International Working Women's Day, Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union (TEU) is calling on leaders from all tertiary education institutions to actively support pay equity.
Amy Ross, Te Pou Ahurei |National Secretary of the TEU said the comprehensive report released last week by the People’s Select Committee on Pay Equity, shows how tertiary workers’ claims to pay equity have been erased without any due process or evidence.
In a letter sent to all Vice Chancellors and chief executives of polytechnics and wānanga, Ms Ross said that their voices carry significant authority in restoring fairness and integrity, and the TEU urges these leaders to use them.
“Administrative and library work have historically been female dominated roles, and this work has for far too long gone undervalued and unseen.
“Our tertiary institutions have always been anchors of evidence-based policy, democratic engagement, and social progress. Our members want to see their employers stand with them and vocally demand that this Government repeal their destructive changes to the Equal Pay Act.”
Co-Branch President and pay equity representative at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Hannah Jenkin, who works as a subject librarian said that the gutting of their pay equity claim was devastating for her and her colleagues whose claim had been accepted by the universities.
“All the work we and the women before us had done for years was gone overnight. What these politicians don’t understand is that pay equity has the power to change lives – librarian assistants affording the dentist or getting their cars fixed, that was gone. One woman I spoke to whose pay equity claim went through before the changes, said that it meant she could afford to leave an abusive relationship.
“I want people to live with dignity. Our Vice Chancellor saying kind words of support won’t change anything. But together our vice chancellors and leaders have enormous influence and power – their voices putting pressure on Minister Reti and our Government to repeal these changes to pay equity would be meaningful.”
Amy Ross said that working women in Aotearoa need to be properly recognised and fairly paid for their work.
“The fact that we’ve taken such a giant step back from the fair recognition of undervalued women and workers in Aotearoa is shameful. Women have fought for this for decades and will continue to. To hear the Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, call working women’s resistance to removal of pay equity ‘hyperbole’ is simply disrespectful to thousands of working women. Pay equity will be an election issue for the many women who have been shafted by the three parties of this coalition government’s deliberate gutting of pay equity.”