Speaking from experience, this has not happened once but on multiple jobs I’ve had. It’s always harder for the Pasifika/Māori people. It was easy to watch my Pākehā colleagues smoothly negotiate a pay rise. But for us Pasifika/Māori, all of a sudden, employers need to look at our attendance, at our workload, and except one time, I have never ever been able to negotiate my pay rate without being shut down after a few sentences. But I’ve watched our Pākehā people that joined after us, or have done less work than us, get talked up and given a pay rise with ease. The issue is not so much the Pākehā people but within the work management teams. (S113) Another Pacific healthcare worker shared their experience of low pay being seen as acceptable by management until Pākehā workers would not accept it: In my current role, no-one listened when I said the pay didn’t reflect the amount of work we put in. It wasn’t nearly enough. It was way more than what was mentioned in the job description. It wasn’t until we had to recruit again and Palagis kept turning the offer down that they moved the band. (S130) A Pacific public servant told us of the significant discrepancy between what they earned and what their colleagues did: I have not had the best experience in this field because for so long I was told to be grateful for the experience that I was gaining – only to discover that I was the lowest paid in my industry by $20k for at least 3 years! (S209) One participant believed that their employer used migrants’ lack of knowledge about Aotearoa New Zealand market rates to pay them low rates: Sometimes the employer here in New Zealand is just doing the thing of “oh, he’s from Tonga, we will just give him this small amount of pay”. (T005) Lack of awareness and understanding about pay negotiation Several Pacific workers shared that they did not know that they could negotiate their pay when a job offer is presented. One Pacific health worker said “I’ve never negotiated pay – I didn’t really know that I could until I heard that colleagues had” (S145). Another Pacific worker said “I am not really sure about and understand negotiating pay” (S079). Pacific workers highlighted that pay negotiation is something that is not taught during their years of education and may not necessarily be taught at home. Many Pacific workers only became aware of this once they were in employment through other colleagues. Several Pacific workers felt that employers hinder their opportunity to negotiate pay or are reluctant to even discuss it when the topic is brought up with them. One Pacific public servant said they felt dismissed when they tried to bring up pay issues and were made to “feel like you shouldn’t ask about the pay like it’s a crass question … it is very awkward negotiating pay” (S533). Voices of Pacific peoples 47