Aotearoa's Opportunity

Episode 10: The Future of Fair Pay Agreements?

This is the last episode of Aotearoa’s Opportunity and in it we document the final days of the Fair Pay Agreements Act including a petition of 15,000 signatures being presented to parliament; calling on the government to reconsider the repeal of the legislation, heated debates from parliament and the Stand up for Fair Pay Protest on the parliamentary lawn. This episode and series acts as an archival piece to document this period of time for the Workers Movement in Aotearoa and it is dedicated to all of the workers who will be directly impacted by the removal of Fair Pay Agreements.

Episode 9: The Story So Far.

On Episode 9 of Aotearoa’s Opportunity Ben Peterson the national FPA Co-ordinator has a discussion reflecting on the campaign to get Fair Pay Agreements across the line with with FPA Support Organisers Una & Oliver.   This conversation touches on some of the work that has been going on behind the scenes, the obstacles faced along the way, lessons learned and some indications on a path forward for securing a future for FPAs in the long term. 

Episode 8: Pay Equity & Care & Support Workers.

On Episode 8 of AOP we talk with Marianne Bishop about Pay Equity and the Aged Care & Support Work Industry. We discuss the the work which has been historically  done by women being undervalued and underpaid due to it being considered "women's work." Today this causes industries that are predominantly populated by women to have significant less pay and poorer working conditions compared to similar male dominated industries.  To address this issue we discuss the historic pay equity settlement of 2017, the new joint pay equity claim on behalf of care and support workers and the importance of sector wide bargaining approaches for improving working industries. To help support the current pay equity claim on behalf of care and support workers sign the open letter here: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/open-letter-fund-pay-equity-for-care-and-support-workers-now

Episode 7: Labour History in Aotearoa.

On episode 7, Grace Miller a historian and union activist discusses the history of labour and industrial relations within Aotearoa. We discuss how Fair Pay Agreements came about and how this kind of sector wide bargaining is common internationally and existed in New Zealand up until the early 90s. Grace also gives some really interesting context talking about unionisation as a tool for creating transformational change while giving some poignant examples from our history in relation to pay equity, the creation of Waitangi Day as a public holiday, the situation at Bastion Point, LGBTQ rights and more.

Episode 6: Improving Early Childhood Education

On Episode 6 Lisa and Louise discuss the importance of early childhood education for Aotearoa. By setting up our children properly at the start of their lives with quality education we are investing in our societies future and it will pay off great dividends in the years to come. Currently however there are significant challenges that teachers face especially in relation to pay, non contact time, short staffing and the ministry set ratio of 5 children to 1 teacher. As well as this Lisa & Louise discuss the impact that being a part of NZEI has had on them and the  opportunity of the ECE Fair Pay Agreement to help address these issues.