My Perspective: Silence feeds inequality, it’s time we talk about pay

Let's talk about pay, baby! Why? Because whether you like it or not, it's a marker that drives our society.

Yet talking about pay rates remains this taboo topic. Last week, the Employment Relations Employee Remuneration Disclosure Amendment Bill passed its second reading. If passed into law, it would allow workers to talk about their salaries without fear of legal action from their employers.

Simon Schofield, a professional teaching fellow at the University of Auckland's law school, told Radio New Zealand that the bill puts the onus on employers to justify some of their decisions around pay.

Decisions that can sometimes involve an unconscious bias contributing to the gender pay gap. In Aotearoa, we need to be having these conversations. We have a significant ethnic pay gap, with Pacific men and women still earning around a quarter less than their pālangi male counterparts.

This was acknowledged during the reading by Green MP Teanau Tuiono, who noted it won't solve everything overnight, but it's a step in the right direction. On a brighter note, our KiwiSaver gender gap is improving slightly, with the average working woman now retiring with only 4,500 less than the average man.

In an interesting party split, National voted alongside Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori in favour of the bill, while ACT and New Zealand First opposed it. Those against it argued it wouldn't change anything and claimed the proposal would breach employment agreements.

Countries such as Britain, Canada and Sweden already ban pay secrecy clauses in employment contracts, and Australia joined them in 2022. The right to talk about pay is just that - a right.

What we do with it is up to us. No one is being forced to discuss their salary. It's deeply personal, but discrimination and inequity thrive in silence. Maybe it's time we stopped whispering.

That’s My Perspective.

Listen to Khalia Strong’s Perspective below.