Mostly male EMA demonstrates need for law change

The credibility of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) will be in tatters if the mostly male board of the EMA continues to back Alasdair Thompson and his offensive comments that women are less productive than men because they have periods, the Green Party said today.

EMA President Graham Mountfort said the EMA Board backed Mr Thompson and did not expect him to step down.

“I am frankly shocked that the President of the EMA has backed Mr Thompson and supported his outrageous comments,” Green MP Sue Kedgley said today, “I assumed they would have asked him to resign.”

“The only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that Mr Thompson’s views are widely held amongst the organisation, in particular the male dominated Board of the EMA, and presumably other employers.

“This shows that these deeply offensive and sexist attitudes are behind the continuing pay gap between men and women, and why the Equal Pay Act urgently needs amending”, Ms Kedgley said.

Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty had written a Members Bill to make it easier to enforce the existing law by improving information employees had access to.

“Catherine Delahunty’s Bill would amend the Equal Pay Act to make it easier for employees to find out if there is illegal gender-based discrimination in a workplace,” said Dr Norman.

“The EMA doesn’t like this because giving employees more information will give them more negotiating power – but isn’t that how a market is supposed to work? Employees should know what the worth of their work is, and be able to negotiate the salaries they deserve.

“It’s certainly not going to impose a huge compliance cost. How much extra time will it take employers to record gender as one of many items of employee information they are already required to collect?

“Alasdair Thompson has made it clear that he is not above relying on sexist prejudice to defend the status quo which sees women paid less for equal work. If he represents employers, then it’s clear we need additional law changes to ensure the Equal Pay Act is being enforced,” said Dr Norman.

Link to information about Catherine Delahunty’s Members Bill
http://www.greens.org.nz/press-releases/equal-pay-issues-go-under-spotlight-new-bill