Executive summary Aotearoa New Zealand has both domestic and international human rights obligations to eliminate employment inequities and provide a safe and inclusive environment for all workers. The Pacific Pay Gap Inquiry found that the need – and expectation – of equality and equity in the workplace and wider society is now very real and urgent. The Inquiry heard from Pacific peoples who knew their inherent dignity, were proud of their identity and felt a sense of purpose in their job. They cared about their peers and employers and contributed hugely to the culture of their workplaces. Pacific employers and workers wanted and believed in the right to equal employment opportunities despite experiencing social, economic, and cultural inequality and inequity since coming to Aotearoa New Zealand. Pacific workers understood what fairness was, what it was supposed to feel like and when it was absent in the workplace. All talked of the importance of paid work to having an adequate standard of living. For those living in hardship or in poverty, especially those in insecure employment, they held very tightly to the ability to maintain that income in spite of enduring unfairness, discrimination, and indignity due to feeling disempowered. One of the Pacific managers we engaged with during the Inquiry emphasised the need to take urgent action to eliminate inequities. She told us: The thing about making equity voluntary is that noone wants to know, no-one looks, and if they find it, you might still not get remediation unless you require reporting on that on a regular basis. So, all equity if you want action needs to be compulsory. You need to monitor what you’ve got and then require organisations to improve their data. We agree. We set out our key recommendations for change in both this summary and the conclusion to the report. Why was the Inquiry conducted? Pacific peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand have long called for action to address pay inequities, poor working conditions and structural discrimination. In the 1970s, for example, the Polynesian Panthers called for better working conditions and equal pay for Pacific workers.1 The Advance Pasifika march in 2012 called for “decent jobs and a living wage for Pacific people in New Zealand”.2 Pacific peoples have also participated in union or other collective actions and more recently in the Human Rights Commission’s End Pay Secrecy campaign calling for pay transparency.3 Official measures of income from paid work consistently show that Pacific peoples as an ethnic cohort earn less than all other ethnic groups, but we still do not fully understand why. 1 Anae, Melani. The Platform – The Radical Legacy of Polynesian Panthers. Auckland: Bridget Williams Book, 2020. 2 “Pacific people stage protest march in Auckland for ‘better future’.” Pacific Scoop, June 16, 2012. https://pacific.scoop. co.nz/2012/06/pacific-people-stage-protest-march-in-auckland-for-better-future/ 3 “Call for pay scale transparency law to ensure fair wages.” Radio New Zealand, August 27, 2019. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ national/397559/call-for-pay-scale-transparency-law-to-ensure-fair-wages. Voices of Pacific peoples 9