NZEI to seek redress over pay discrimination

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1743" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;SND19-wk1-NZEI&lowbar;Pay-Paul&lowbar;Goulter&period;png" alt&equals;"SND19-wk1-NZEI Pay-Paul Goulter" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"244" &sol;>NZEI says it intends to take legal action on behalf of education support workers over gender discrimination&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We welcome the initiative by the country&&num;8217&semi;s midwives to file for court action over pay discrimination&period; And we&&num;8217&semi;ve also been watching developments in the case of Lower Hutt caregiver Kristine Bartlett who last year won in the Supreme Court against her employers over pay discrimination&comma;&&num;8221&semi; NZEI National Secretary Paul Goulter says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The Government has been ignoring this human rights issue for far too long and we will now pursue our case through the courts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;More than six years ago an independent job evaluation report by the Pay Equity Commission showed that when compared with the male-dominated job of corrections officer&comma; education support workers employed by the Ministry of Education were paid as much as &dollar;8 an hour less&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The incoming government sidelined the report&comma; saying the pay issue would be dealt with through bargaining rounds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;There has been no real movement&comma; and in fact what we&&num;8217&semi;re seeing across the workforce in New Zealand is growing inequity and female-dominated workforces are suffering the most&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We have given the Government plenty of time to tackle this issue and we will now follow the path of the midwives and Kristine Bartlett&comma; and seek redress through the legal system&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Mr Goulter says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;