Organisations representing community social services and social workers have joined forces to launch a collective call
for pay equity and fair funding this Social Workers’ Day, September 22.
Employers, union representatives and social worker advocates say the untenable pay gap is making it hard to attract and
retain social workers in non-government and iwi organisations, and compromising services to the children, rangatahi,
families, whānau and communities around the motu they serve.
The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW), Western Bay of Plenty's SociaLink, Social Service
Providers Aotearoa and the PSA launched their collective call on Aotearoa New Zealand Social Workers’ Day.
They say action is needed to remedy the significant pay gap between social sector workers in community and iwi
organisations and those in government, because of the detrimental impact the pay gap is having.
The Government needs to step up to resolve the pay gap with fair funding for community and iwi social services. Given
these organisations and the services they provide are largely government funded, addressing the pay gap relies on
government making funding available, they say.
Social workers in iwi and community organisations earn on average $25,000 a year less than those working in government
agencies, despite having the same qualifications and skills, and often working with the same children, rangatahi,
families and whānau. The pay gap stems from historic underfunding of the community social services sector.
SociaLink is an umbrella organisation for social agencies and charities in the Western Bay.
General manager Liz Davies says NGO social sector workers play a vital role in our communities.
"They are ensuring the most vulnerable people in our communities receive the services they need to have a decent quality
of life. Pay equity means the value of their work is recognised."
The Public Service Association has begun taking action to achieve equal pay for NGO social workers and social service
workers, with a pay equity claim against five representative social services providers.
“Unions have achieved pay equity for other sectors," PSA spokesperson Josh Gardner said. "To gain momentum and be
successful, this claim needs the collective voice and support of workers in the social sector, and today is about
lifting up that collective voice.”
Social Service Providers Aotearoa is coordinating the employer response to the current PSA claim, and representing the
wider sector. Pay Equity Co-ordinator Brenda Pilott says there is an urgent need to remedy pay inequity in the sector
and the underfunding that drives that.
“Community and iwi social workers do essential, demanding and complex work every day to support better outcomes for
children, rangatahi and whānau, but this is not reflected in their pay. We are committed to responding to the current
claim as a united sector—working together for a sector-wide solution.
We are looking to government to move quickly to close this gender pay gap for this group of essential workers.”
ANZASW Kaiwhakahaere Chief Executive Braden Clark said the social work profession was overrepresented by women who
tirelessly worked to better Aotearoa New Zealand.
"It is entirely unfair that community and iwi social workers are paid significantly less than male-dominated industries
and their colleagues, who do equivalent work, in statutory organisations."
As part of the collective call to action, a series of short video interviews has been released today, bringing together
the voices of sector representatives, social workers and managers. The videos are being shared through social agencies
and social media, and are available at https://socialink.org.nz/pay-equity-campaign/